KingdomTale
by Ashlex in pearl
Summary: This world is unlike any you've ever been to. But, a world in need is still a world in need. You would rather risk it all to keep any world from disappearing completely than sit back and watch it blink out of the sky. But, is this world worth saving? Or will you help it destroy itself? (2nd person perspective experiment, feedback is encouraged!) Slow updates for a while!
1. The descent

The sunlight was warm, gentle as it shone down rough the cavern. Though there was no sound around, there was a ringing in your ears. As you began to come to your senses, the pain started in your neck and seemed to shoot all or your body. As you opened your eyes, you realized that were on your back, staring up at a light shining down through a dark cavern.

'I must have fallen pretty far,' you think as you begin to get up. Rubbing your head, you stare up into the cavern above. Though there is a pounding in your head, you feel fine, no other indication to your fall. As you make it to your feet, you manage to pull your eyes from the light and look around you.

The light seemed enough to light up the little room, though there seems to be torches affixed to pillars at the opposite end of the room. It looked like a long hall. As you begin to walk towards it, you notice you had fallen into a bed of yellow flowers. They were only growing under the sunlight. You begin to wonder how they got there, and also of they needed some water. But as thought crosses your mind, there was movement in front of you. Though you hesitate, you follow after it into the dark doorway.

Another beam of light lit a patch of grass in the center of the room. As you walked to the light, you searche the dark for another way out. Even the way you came seems to be gone. There is a light breeze seeming to whisper in your ear. The voice gets louder and louder until suddenly it is right beside you.

"Howdy! Never seen you here before," you turned behind you to find who spoke, but at first saw no one, "Down here, pal!"

Upon looking down, you notice a little yellow flower, bigger than he others and staring straight at you.

"Oh! Hey there little flower!" You smile and crouch down to look at it.

The flower seemed to twitch a bit, but kept it's smile as it leaned back a little, "Nice to meet you! I'm Flowey, Flowey the flower! You're a human aren't you?"

You look down at yourself for the first time. Something seemed odd about yourself, but you can't quite figure out why. You had a baggy long sleeve shirt, yellow and red striped, and blue shorts. There was also a familiar crown necklace and a silver key around your wrist. Your hands looked a bit dirt from when you stood. You looked them over on each side and shrugged.

You smiled at Flowey, "Yeah, I guess I am. I'm Sora, Sora the human." For some reason, that made you laugh.

Flowey laughed a little, a sort of forced sound, "Yup, you sure are. But, that means you don't know how things work down here. Someone needs to..."

While Flowey was talking, you caught sight of something to the side. Curious, you started to follow it, coming to another doorway. Through it you could see another open area. It was much brighter and more open. You started to walk through the doorway towards it.

"HEY!"

Flowey popped up from the ground in front of you, startling you for a moment. Realizing it was just him, you smile, "Oh, Flowey, whats up ahead?"

Flowey's expression changes for a moment, but he still smiles at you, "Uh, that's the Ruins. But, you don't want to go there."

"Why not?"

"Why no-" Flowey pops back closer as you begin to walk away from him again, "Do you always just charge head first into possibly dangerous situations, kid?"

You feel a bit confused by the question, "Yes."

Flowey seems surprised. He mumbles something to himself before sighing, "Alright, look, Sora, you need to understand how things work down here. It's not the same as upon the surface. So, I'm going to teach you, okay?"

You smile and nod, eager to learn more about this world, "Oh thank you, Flowey!"

Flowey gives you a weird look as the room suddenly goes black. In the blink of an eye the room had changed. In front of you was a prompt with four options, as well as your LV and health. It was familiar to you, and yet a strange sight to see. Beyond that you could see a heart floating in front of Flowey.

"See that heart? That's your SOUL, the very culmination of your being," Flowey explained, "It starts off weak, but can grow strong if you get enough LV."

You smile as you move the heart around. It seems to float around the space in front of you. You look at Flowey again, "What's 'LV'?" You ask him. You feel as if you know what it means, but it doesn't seem quite right.

Flowey seemed delighted by your question, "Why, LOVE of course. You want some LOVE, don'tcha?"

"Yeah! Doesn't everyone?"

Flowey seemed to laugh at a joke that was never said aloud, "Yes... Of course. And down here, LOVE is shared with little...white... 'Friendliness pellets.'"

As he seems to summon the pellets from thin air, you feel a sudden wave of unease. Flowey's expression changed again, to one of impatience as he watched you waiver on the side of doubt. Quickly, and all at once, the pellets flew at your SOUL.

"Catch as many as you can! Hee hee hee!" Flowey's voice was slightly distorted. He expression twitched again, beginning to form a very sinister smile.

Quickly, as the pellets fly towards your SOUL, you Dodge out if the way and flee the fight. Flowey hardly had a chance to react before you were down the hall and into the light. You stop while standing in a pile of bright orange leaves to catch your breath.

"Oh man, that was close," you say out loud, glancing back over your shoulder into the darkness, "Never thought I'd be running from a buttercup."

"Oh, hello child," you hear the sound of a large door opening, a smooth and sweet voice following it. As you look up you see her. She was all white fur, long ears, and little horns. Her purple dress had a strange symbol you don't recognize. Her face was cautious and curious as she approached you, "How strange to see another so soon."

You just smile and meet her halfway, "Oh, hi! My name is Sora. Uh, where exactly am I?"

She just smiled as she knelt down to your level, "This is the Ruins. You must have fallen down from the surface. Strange, you are the second child to appear here today," she laughed a little, though it sounded almost sad.

After a moment she stands back up and holds her hand out to you, "Come along, Sora. You must be tired after your fall down here."

You smile and take her hand, "Thanks! I am kinda tired."

She just laughed a little as she led you through the doorway she had come out of, "My name is Toriel, and you are welcome to stay with me, my child."

* * *

You look around as she leads the way through the Ruins. It is particularly more bright here despite the seeming lack of torches or any kind of light. Around corners and doorways you could spot blurs of white rush by. Little whispers and croaks followed the.

"Are there others here, Toriel?" You ask her.

Toriel smiles at you, "Of course. Many little monsters live here. Mostly Froggit and Whimsun. Their kinds don't take well to the cold or other monsters."

As a Froggit hops close to you, your SOUL reacts. The scene changes the same way I did before with Flowey. The Froggit seems to look to the sides and back at you, as if trying to avoid looking at you for too long. Curious, you smile and wave to it.

"Hi! It's nice to meet you," you free, hoping the Froggit can understand you.

It looks confused, tilting it's head a little. Toriel steps into view then, giving the Froggit a stern look. The Froggit seemed both frightened and ashamedas it hopped away.

Toriel smiles at you as everything fades back to normal, "I apologize, child. Sometimes Froggs don't understand boundaries very well. But they mean you no harm."

You feel confused by this, "No harm? So the monsters here aren't out to hurt me?"

Toriel's eyes seemed to flash with some sort of recognition, but she just smiled, "Of course not. Monsters don't wish hurt anyone. All we want... Is to be free."

"Free?"

Toriel was quiet for a moment, absently leading you across a puzzle without explaining it. You watch the spikes as they recede into the ground just as she steps on them. You wanted to ask her why they did that, but opted to just keep quiet.

For a long time she led you through the rooms, until finally she stopped outside a quaint looking little house. Bright orange leaves were piled up outside, just under the windows. As Toriel stopped, she let your hand go and turned to face you. She smiled, "Welcome home, my child."

You walk inside after her and are immediately met with an overpowering scent of butterscotch and cinnamon. It brings a smile to your face as you follow the scent into the kitchen. Up on one of the counters you see a large pie. It was too intimidating for you to get closer to.

Toriel followed you into the kitchen and laughed a little "Would you like a piece of pie?" She asked, walking over to the counter, "I'm afraid it's a little cold now, but I can warm it back up in no time."

You smile up at her and nod excitedly, "That sounds amazing!" As you try to keep yourself from bouncing out of your shoes, your stomach growls loudly.

Toriel laughs again, "Why don't you go and rest? I'll bring you some pie once it's ready."

As you agree, you turn and head back to the main room of the house. It's a very open room, leading to a hallway opposite you and a large staircase going down. You lean over the railing,wondering where it must lead. But, after a moment, shrug it off and head for the hallway.

The first door you open leads to a little well kept room. There was one bed surrounded by a bunch of toys, a dresser, and a large box of shoes. With a yawn, you walk over to the bed and collapse under the blanket. It was warm and smelled almost like the pie Toriel had made. Within moments, you are asleep.

* * *

Through the darkness, you could hear a voice. It felt familiar to you, but you couldn't remember where you heard it. It was stern, almost demanding of you.

"Sora! You must reconsider! You may never return!"

Other voices began to fill your head, but there were too many speaking at once. They sounded like they were trying desperately to tell you something, but you couldn't make any sense of it.

"Sora!"

In an instant, you were awake. You sat up in the bed, sweat dripping off your face. As you looked around in the unfamiliar darkness, you began to remember. The little house, the pie, and the...

"Toriel?" You said aloud. You remembered. Toriel showed you back to her home and offered you to stay with her. You were still unsure about it, but, you didn't seem to have any other choice. You still couldn't exactly remember how you got here. And it course, it was always better to stay out of trouble.

With a smile, you stood and stretched your arms. As your feet hit the floor, you noticed something on the floor. It wasn't until you got closer to it that you smelled it. It was a slice of pie. Without a second thought, you sat down on the floor and ate it quickly. It tasted so sweet and just warm enough it was like a hug for your stomach. With each bite you felt happier, but you knew it had to end. Once the plate was clean, you picked it up and carried it out of the room.

The light in the hall was still out the same, it almost didn't seem like you were really underground. For a moment, you thought you were back home, even if you couldn't remember where home was.

You walked the same way back towards the kitchen, only now, in the dining room you saw Toriel sitting in a chair by the fire. She spotted you over the book she was reading and smiled, "Oh good, you're awake."

You sat the plate in the table and yawned, walking over to her, "Was I asleep for long?"

Toriel smiled and patted your head, "Yes, it has been quite a while. You must have been so tired."

"I feel better now though. Oh, and thanks for the pie! It was delicious!"

Toriel's expression brightened as she smiled at you again, "Thank you, my child. I am glad you liked it," she said as she closed her book and looked to the side. She seems distracted by something.

You frown a little and tilt your head, standing beside her chair, "Is something wrong, Toriel?"

"Oh you needn't worry about me," she forces a smile for you, but it isn't enough to convince you. Toriel can tell it didn't work and just sighs, "I am worried. There was another child who feel not long before you."

You are surprised by this. You start to wonder if maybe that was why the other monsters were so apprehensive around you, why they ran away, "What happened?"

"They left, trying to return home."

"There's a way out?" Toriel hesitated, as if unsure whether she should tell you or not. You just smile at her, "I don't want to go. I just want to know what happened."

She didn't seem to believe you, but just smiled and went on, "Yes, there is a way out. But it is very dangerous to get to. The barrier that keeps us all down here can be crossed, but it is at the outside end of the underground. The king... King Asgore protects the way. But... The one before you, they just seemed so insistent on leaving. I couldn't protect them."

"Why do you say that? Is the king dangerous?"

She sighs, "His intentions are good, I think. But his methods are wrong. Too many children have lost their lives to him."

You felt as if your heart stopped beating. A chill ran down your spine, making you shiver very noticeably. You shake your head, trying to play it off, "I thought you said the monsters didn't want to hurt anyone," you couldn't help it when you voice cracked a little at the end.

Toriel gave a gentle smile that put you at ease, "I said they don't want to hurt you, Sora," she explained, "You see, the king needs one more SOUL to break the barrier for good, to free us all from this prison."

You frowned, looking down at your feet. The king was stealing souls to free everyone? That seemed to you like the wrong way to go about it. There had to be another way, right? There's always another way. You clench your fists and notice your key on your wrist. Your lift your hand to look at it and tilt your head.

Toriel notices it too, "Oh? What is the key for? It looks very shiny."

Without a second thought you look up at her and say with a smile, "To save this world."

Toriel blinked, surprised, "What? That little key?"

You nod, memories of what your key can do beginning to come back, "This key is what lights the darkness. A change to make everyone happy!"

Toriel seemed confused, but patted your head anyway, "Well, it that's what you think, then I hope you can make everyone days a little brighter, my child."

You smile, happy that, even if she doesn't believe your words, she still believes in you. You still couldn't remember what you were trying to do, but having someone believe in you still felt good. You gave her a big hug and smiled up at her.

"Thanks, mom!"


	2. First Reset

The sunlight was warm against your face, a distant sound of birds far above you. After a moment, all was quiet. The ringing in your ears began as you started to come to your senses. Opening your eyes, you could see the light at the top of the cavern. As you sat up, ignoring the pain in your neck, you looked around. The cavern was dark, except the bed of yellow flowers you were sitting in.

Something about the scene was familiar. As you stood and started to walk down the hall towards the door, your sense of deja vu was going crazy. As you glance back at the flowers, you get a feeling of what might happen next. Though you can't exactly remember, you feel a bit uneasy about it.

As you walk through the door and into the dark room, you look all around. It's completely dark, except for one light lighting up a patch of grass in the center. You stand in the light for a moment and wait.

"Howdy! You're new around here, aren'tcha?"

You turn back and automatically look down. The little flower seemed happy to see you.

"Oh, hi there. You're a flower," you said.

The flower's expression changed a bit, before going back to a smile, "That's right! I'm Flowey the flower! I'm your new best friend! I can teach you how things with down here. It's not the same as on the surface. Ready? Here-"

"Uh, no thanks, Flowey," you side step carefully around Flowey, keeping a smile, "I think I can figure things out for myself."

You aren't sure why you felt the need to lie to Flowey, but you knew you had to get away from him as soon as possible. You quickly turn your back and begin to run to the opposite doorway. But, before you could get far, something grabs your leg and pulls you back. When you look back, you see a thick find wrapped around your ankle.

"You know what's going on, don't you?" You hear Flowey say, "I'm surprised. The other kid seemed to know as well. But I won't let you get away. I may have lost one chance, but I won't lose this one."

Looking at Flowey's face, you feel a sudden rush. Something deep inside of you starts screaming out instinctively. This can't be how it ends, there's something you can do. You hold your hands in front of your face to block yourself as Flowey pulls you closer. The silver key around your right wrist floats up and begins to glow. As you notice the glow, you remember what it is for. Taking hold of the key, you swipe at the vine around your ankle. Flowey let's out a cry of pain and releases you.

"You... You hurt me!" He said. With an angry look, he recedes into the ground and disappears. Quickly, you scramble back to your feet and run off.

In the next room you run until you reach the stairs and collapse into them. As you try to catch your breath you look at your little key. You were suddenly very aware of the power surfing through. It made you feel good, it felt safe. You smiled and let it hang again as you stood. Looking up the stairs at t he door to the ruin, you start to wonder about this world. You so couldn't quite remember why you were here or how you fell down. You shake your head and decide to worry about it later.

Just then, the door opened. A tall white, furry, monster entered the room, looking solemn. When she spotted you, she blinked in surprise, doing a double take behind herself.

You smile at her as you doing the stairs to meet her. It was somehow a familiar face, even though you knew you didn't know her, "Oh, it's you!" You exclaim.

She blinks in confusion, "I'm sorry, child, have we met?"

You shake your head quickly, still smiling, "No, I don't think so. But, I feel like we have. You're... Mom, right?"

She blinks, her face turning a bit red beneath her fur, "Mom? Would that make you happy, child? To call me 'Mom'?" She laughed a little and just rubbed your head, "In any case, I am Toriel, caretaker of the Ruins."

As she leads you through the Ruins, you ask her little questions about herself, just trivial little details. She tells you that her favorite animals are snails, that they are also her favorite food, and that she loves to go but hunting. She a also tells you she had a family with a child just kind you before. Once she finishes, she goes quiet. The memories cloud her eyes as she leads you through the rooms and lakes without explaining them.

When you reach the little house, she stops. She turns and smiles at you, "I apologize, my child. I think it's been some time since I have talked so much."

You smile at her and shake your head, "Its not a problem. I did ask you a lot of questions."

Toriel smiled, "I told you so much about myself, but never learned a thing about you."

"My curiosity gets the better of me, I guess." You shrug.

"Well, you must be tired after such a long fall, and after that walk."

You nod, yawning a bit as you follow her inside, "I could use a nap really." Inside, you catch the scent of butterscotch and cinnamon and smiled, "I'm pretty hungry, too."

She just laughed and rubbed your head, "Go rest, I'll have a nice treat weight for you when you wake up." You agree, excited for sleep and food at the same time.

As you run to the room, you look around curiously. Next to the bed there are so many dusty toys and a tall armoire filled with striped shirts. Looking down at your own red and yellow striped shirt under your crown necklace, you decide you don't need to change. With a shrug, you look at the dresser beside it.

On top is an old looking photograph of a couple of children. Or were they monsters? You couldn't tell. Shrugging, you turned away and laid in the bed. Though you knew you could sleep forever, you were wide awake. You stared at the ceiling through the dark, trying to figure out what you should do. Holding your little key over you, you can remember that you came here to help. Something about this place drew you to it, as all worlds do.

"The Keyblade is my guide," you tell yourself. You remember hearing those words before. Someone always told you to believe in the light and the Keyblade will show you the way. With a sigh, you rolled onto your side and closed your eyes. It was no use wracking your brain trying to figure it out. Maybe when the time comes, the Keyblade will make itself known. It always had before, rightt?

* * *

When you awoke again, you could smell the pie in the floor. Rubbing your eyes, you sat up and looked at it. Even in the dark you could see the steam coming off of it. With a smile, you picked up the plate and carried it with you as you walked out of the room.

To the side you noticed the hall went on, there were two more doors not far off. You sat the pie down on an end table next to some weird oblong pod plant and tried the first door. It swung open and you started to wonder if you should go inside. Shaking the feeling off, you walk in and look around.

It was a bedroom, assumed to be Toriel's. There was a little desk, a bigger bed then yours and a dresser. It was a simple little room.

"Oh, you're up," you hear Toriel's voice behind you, "was there something you needed, my child?"

Hearing her suddenly made you jump a little. Turning to her, you just smile "Oh, no, I was just looking for you, mom."

Toriel smiled, delighted to hear this, "Oh, how wonderful. Come along then."

Toriel took you back to the sitting room by the fire and told you all sorts of stories. Most of what she told you had to do with snails, but they were interesting anyway. She had stacks of books that seemed to all be either about snails or some sort of old history book. You took one off the shelf and handed it to her.

Toriel smiled, "oh this one is about us monsters. You see, we don't have very much written history since we've been underground. Nothing down here changes much, so there's no need to write everything down. But, this book tells our story of how we came to be in this position."

You smile, eager to learn more, "Will you tell me about it?"

"If you wish, my child. Monsters and humans at once lived together in peace. Both sides trusted that the other would not betray them. But the humans became paranoid. They knew they had the advantage over monsters, but were afraid that somehow we might somehow find a way to overcome them.

"So, they began to fight, " she sighs, "So many lives were lost as they drove us down into this dark place. Once they had us cornered, seven of their best magicians put a barrier around us so that we couldn't escape. Afraid, we stayed in the dark, hoping they finally left us be. And they did. They left us trapped in the dark."

She paused, looking to the side, "King Asgore wishes to take the surface back from the humans, so that all monsters can go free. He believes an eye for an eye when it comes to strategy. They took everything from us, so we must take everything from them."

Toriel looks at you and holds a finger up, speaking a bit more sternly, "But, an eye for en eye simply leaves the world blind, Sora. It is not the right way to do things. Fighting is not the answer. Kill them with kindness, my child."

You tilted your head as you listened to her. She ended her speech with a sort of sad smile. You got a feeling in your gut that you knew what the look meant, what made her so sad, "Where is the other like me?" You ask ,her.

She seems surprised by your question for a moment, but then realizes something, "Oh, you must have noticed the things in your room," she smiles that sad smile again, "They left not long before I found you. I tried to make them feel welcome here, but I suppose this place is simple too small. It can be quite lonely in the Ruins."

"Why don't you ever leave then?" You ask her. It seemed to you like a simple question. There didn't seem to be anyone else here she could really talk to.

Toriel smiled, shaking her head, "I have my duties here, the same I have had for a very long time. I can not simply leave."

You tilt your head and frown a little, "Doing the same thing all the time since really boring."

Toriel laughed, "You get used to it. Now, if that is all, my child, I better go out the pie away before a little dog gets to it."

She stood and patted your head before heading into the kitchen. You follow her for a moment, watching her around the corner. As she took the pie off the counter and opened the fridge, you could see a little weird dog spring up from the bottom shelf at the pie. Toriel gave it a frightening, stern look.

"No! This pie is not for you!"

She dodged the dog, trying to keep the pie just out of reach as it tried is hardest, leaping higher reach time. You can hardly good been your laughter as you watch them. So, during not to get on Toriel's bad side, you head back to your room through the main room.

You permit yourself to laugh once you were out of earshot. Rubbing the tears from your eyes, you notice your little Keyblade start to glow. It was pointing across you to the stairs as you pass them. Curious, you stand at the top of them and look down. You can't see anything in the dark, but your Keyblade seems insistent as it pulls at your wrist.

"Whoa!" You try to resist, but it pulls you harder, forcing you to descend, one step at a time, "I'm supposed to be the one in control here, aren't I?"

You hang onto the key, trying to pull it back as it drags you down the stairs. Once you are at the bottom in the darkness, it finally releases, making you stumble a little. With a sigh, you look up, trying to make out shapes in the darkness. Down the long hall you could make it the light from a torch. It seemed to be much further away as you stared at it.

You look down at your Keyblade, "Why did you bring me down here? Won't Toriel be worried?" The key lights up a little for a moment, then fades back to its normal silver sheen. As you look up, you clench your fists, "Well... Might as well see what's down here."

You hesitate at first, then, one step at a time, start down the hall.


	3. The cold town

It was dark between torches and unnaturally quiet. The only sound you can hear is your own footsteps as you make your way down the hall and around each corner. You aren't even sure you should be down here, but still you walk on. Something inside you wanted to trust that your Keyblade led you down here for a reason. Something in the back of your mind was trying to come forward, to tell you something you may have forgotten, but as your blood began to run cold, you decided it didn't matter right at that moment. As you rounded the final corner, you stare ahead. The hall ahead seemed to stretch on forever, you weren't even sure you could see the end of it.

"Maybe this wasn't the best idea," you say aloud, trying to convince yourself to turn back. But, something in you pushed you forward. Even though you felt heavy, a terrible feeling of dread hanging over your head, you proceeded down the hall. As you walked, you found yourself clutching your keyblade for comfort. A small gesture, but it helped a little.

At the end of the hall there was a huge doorway. It was intimidating, even from a far distance. As you got closer to it, you feel a gust of wind. Gentle at first, it picked up as you came closer and closer. It wasn't blowing at you, it seemed to be pulling you out the door. Before you could change your mind and turn back, the door opens and pulls you off your feet and out into the cold.

* * *

You felt the chilling feeling all around you, no longer just under your skin. It surrounded you until it started to feel good. The cold quickly turned to a much warmer feeling. There was even a murmur around you as the warm feeling began to feel more like burning.

And then, there was nothing.

It felt like an eternity, but you finally found your eyes. As you opened them, you could see a much brighter environment. The sky above you was still dark, a few specks of light around you, though they seemed much further away. You blink a few times and the scene becomes a bit clearer. Sitting up, you notice the trees, grey and covered in snow. Snow? As you looked around yourself, you discovered what the cold feeling had been. You had been lying in a snow bank. But for how long?

You stand, brushing the snow off your legs. It didn't feel quite as cold as you would have imagined, but,you soon realize nothing feels quite right as the feeling begins to rush back to your legs. The prickly feeling takes you by surprise, but tells you you have indeed been lying there for a while. As you stumble to recover your balance, you notice something up ahead.

It was a little structure that almost looked like a counter in a store or something. It looked almost like a food stand. As you make your way to it and look behind it on the inside, you see your assumptions were correct. Inside were bottles of ketchup, mustard, and relish, though there didn't seem to be much else.

As you were looking, you hear your stomach growl loudly. It was then that you remembered that you never ate the pie that Toriel had given you. Looking at these ingredients, you begin to wish you had at least brought it with you.

Just then, you hear the crunching of footsteps up the path, beyond the trees. In a panic, and almost ridiculously so, you look around for someplace to hide. If this was someones stand or something, staying behind it was a definite way of getting caught. Just then, off to the side you catch glimpse of what looks like an oddly shaped lamp. You begin to wonder why a lamp is even out here when you hear the footsteps getting louder. Brushing the convenience off, you hide behind it. Its a little smaller than you, but you find yourself able to hide nicely. You close your eyes tight and wait, your heart beating out of your chest.

The footsteps get louder and louder, closer and closer, until finally they stopped just beside you. You scrunch yourself down further, hoping the lamp was hiding you better than you thought it was. During the long silence, your skin began to crawl, in the way that it does when someone is watching you. But still, you refused to open your eyes to check.

"Kid, you know I can see you."

The voice made you jump right out of your skin. As you fell back, you knocked the lamp over. It shattered into so many pieces as you just laid back in the snow. Blinking, you stared up, trying to figure out what happened. The figure comes into view, leaning over you. You couldn't quite tell at this angle, but his eyes seemed lifeless and empty like a skeleton, an ever present smile on his face, and, despite all that, he seemed to be raising an eyebrow he didn't have.

You jump again and slide back, "Whoa!"As you gather your bearings you see that he is, in fact, a concerned and confused skeleton. His eyes weren't empty, though they were mostly black. Little white spots in the center followed you as you moved from side to side in front of him. You smile and nod as you stand again, "I keep forgetting there are other monsters."

The skeleton seemed to understand your confusion, but still was confused himself. He shrugged his shoulders. He was wearing a blue hoodie, unzipped all the way, with a white t-shirt underneath and black sport shorts. On his feet were some dingy looking socks inside a pair of slippers.

"You're human aren't you? That's... Well, that's interesting," he winked at you, something you had to tell yourself twice that he did despite seeing it for yourself, "I'm Sans, Sans the Skeleton."

As he held his hand out, you smile, "Nice to meet you! I'm Sora-" as you take his hand to shake it, you hear a loud raspberry sound, followed by Sans laughing pretty hard.

"Oh man, the ol' whoopee cushion in the hand trick never gets old."

As he takes off his glove and shows you the whoopee cushion inside, you laugh along with him, "That is a pretty good one!"

"Hey, what can i say, sometimes to break the ice you just need to _break some wind,_ " You both stand there howling with laughter for a good few minutes before things finally settle down. As you look at Sans, he still seems confused, "So kid, how'd ya get here? A bit unusual to see a human down here. Let alone two of them."

You blink, surprised to hear about the other human, "The other human came through here?"

Sans nods, "Yeah, my brother Papyrus and I showed them a pretty good time before they left town. Seemed they were in a hurry for something."

You shake your head, "Did they tell you their name? Or where they were going?"

Sans shrugged his shoulders, "Kid didn't really say much at all. Not really much for conversation," he thought for a moment, as if considering each word before he said it, "If I had to guess, I'd say they were going to see the King though."

You feel the color leave your face, "The... King?" You remember what Toriel had said about him and involuntarily shiver. Sans seemed to notice it right away.

He raised his eyebrow again, "I suppose that's a touchy _subject_ for you, even if it is about the King. Don't worry, he's fairly harmless. You can _count_ on that." Despite the obvious jokes that he's making, you still feel uneasy. The other kid was in danger, but what could you do? You didn't even know how to get to the castle.

"I need to get there, too," You tell Sans. This time, he doesn't seem surprised, "They are in danger, I can just feel it."

Sans nods a couple times, "Okay. I'll show you the way. But first, how about a bite to eat? I could hear your stomach growl from across the trees."

Before you could protest, or even agree, your stomach growls again. You rub your head, a little embarrassed, "I could eat."

Sans chuckles to himself, "Don't worry, I know just the place," he starts to walk back the way you had come from. You start to follow him, a bit confused. Before you could ask, he looks at you and winks, "This way, I know a shortcut," with that, he snaps his fingers.

* * *

In the next instant, you were suddenly inside a much warmer place. It smelled like grease and burning wood. All around you there was chatter and various levels of barks. The other monsters seemed to pay you no mind as you followed Sans to the bar.

"H-Hey Sansy~~~!"

"Hey Sans! Welcome back!"

"Hey Sans, weren't you just in here for breakfast?"

"Nah, I haven't had breakfast in at least half an hour," Sans answers. He shrugs and winks at the one speaking, the monster who looks a lot like a giant fish, "You must be thinking of brunch."

The whole room erupts with laughter, much like you had been laughing with Sans. Sans seems very much in his element as he sits on a bar stool. He gestures to you, "Sit here, kid."

You smile and nod as you go to sit next to him. Once again, you hear the loud sound of a whoopee cushion, and give Sans a look. He just looks really amused.

"Be careful, kid. There's a weird guy who keeps putting whoopee cushions in the seats."

You sigh, still trying to hold back your laughter as a bright light approaches you. As you look up at it, you have to cover your eyes for a moment. It was like a roaring fire, but contained. Once your eyes adjusted to the sudden light, you saw it was a fire. As a matter off act it was a controlled fire in a neat suit.

"Grillby, a double order of burg," you hear Sans say. The fire nods and walks off towards, and then through, a door beside the bar, "That's Grillby, he owns this place," Sans tells you, "He's a a good friend, has been for a long time now."

You look at Sans, the questions filling your eyes, "He's on fire!"

"He is pretty _hot,_ isn't he?" Sans leans on his hand on the bar, "He's made of fire, kid. So, I'd keep my hands to myself if I were you."

You couldn't quite tell where the joke began and where it ended, so you just looked across the bar to the back shelves. There were bottles lining them all along the wall. Mostly some kinds of liquids, as well as several bottles of ketchup. The labels all said just "Grillby's" on the labels.

You turned around in your chair and looked at a table not far from you. The occupants seemed to be having some sort of heated discussion, or maybe just talking. They were all dogs of varying sizes so most of the chatter from them was just different levels of barks. One off to the side who seemed to be smoking a dog treat kept his eyes darting from side to side, depending on who was moving.

"Those dogs are all in the Royal Guard under Undyne," you hear Sans tell you. You see his bony finger point to each dog a she introduces them, "Dogamy and Dogaressa just got married a couple dog years ago. Their fighting style is a bit unorthodox, but they are nice once you get to know them and get past the cuddling. Greater Dog there is all bark and no bit," he pointed quickly away as the dog in the big suit of armor looked your way, "If you aren't careful, he'll jump in your lap and cuddle you to your death."

Even though it sounded completely adorable, you couldn't help but feel uneasy around him.

Sans points to the side where a smaller dog in armor seems to be playing cards with himself, "Beneath Greater is Lesser Dog. He just gets overly excited about pretty much everything. You could say he _unleashed_ his true potential in battle. The one smoking dog treats in Doggo. He actually con't see anything if it's not moving. He had great potential when he started, but the _vision_ he had of himself faded long ago."

You look at Sans, "And what about you?" you ask him, "What were you doing in the forest?"

"Me? I'm a sentry in Snowdin Forest. The stand you saw is my station," Sans explained. he shrugged and looked to the side, "I was actually supposed to be on the look out for humans to capture them and take them to the King. But... eh, I don't really care about catching anyone. Now my brother, Papyrus... he's a human hunting fanatic."

Just then, the door to the bar slams open, "SANS!" a tall figure stands in the doorway, wearing armor sort of similar to the royal guard dogs.

"Speaking of," Sans chuckles to himself, "Hey Papyrus, what's up?"

"You know very well what is up, brother!" As Papyrus approaches, you see that he is about twice the height of Sans at a third the size. The armor he was wearing was actually very different from the dogs. It was white, while theirs was mostly black, and he wore a long red cape like scarf around his neck. As a skeleton, he too had a permanent smile on his face, but his eyes showed more irritation at Sans. He put his hands on his hipbones as he spoke, "Why aren't you at your station?"

"I'm on break," Sans shrugged, "Besides, you and I already found a human. What do I need to look for now?"

Papyrus looked absolutely frustrated, "You must be on the lookout at each of your stations! You chose to run so many, so go man them! Quit boondoggling so much! You lazy brother!"

As you watch them, you let a little chuckle slip out. It was quick and quiet, but it was enough to catch Papyrus's attention. As he looks your way, his attitude changes, it eases a little.

"Sans, who's your friend? Another human?"

Sans looks at you as he answers, "This is Sora. He's actually interested in seeing the king as well."

Papyrus straightened up, "Well then! I, The Great Papyrus, will have to help you as well! After a few puzzles and a battle, you and I might become good friends as well!"

"Don't the puzzles need to be reset and re-calibrated first?" Sans said.

Papyrus's shoulders drooped for a moment, "Oh... Oh yes! They do!"

"And you look like you could use some rest before you fight anyone."

"Sans! Do you wish for me to not make any friends at all?!"

"Nah bro," Sans winks and shrugs at Papyrus, "a cool guy like you could make a friend without going through all of that first."

"Are you sure?" Papyrus turns his attention to you. He thinks for a moment, then points at you, "You there, Human! Would you like to be friends with The Great Papyrus?"

You tilt your head. The two of them seemed a bit strange,definitely unlike the other people here. As you glance at Sans, you see he gives you a secret thumbs up. Smiling back at Papyrus you nod, "Sure! That'd be great!"

Papyrus's eyes seem to sparkle, despite being empty like Sans's, "Wowie! In just one day I've made two new friends! Oh, we absolutely must hang out soon! Stop by my house any time! Nyeh heh heh!" he laughs to himself as he hurries back out the door.'

"Thanks, kid," Sans says as he stands from his seat, "Papyrus certainly is having a great day."

You smile at him and nod, "You're a good brother to do that for him."

Sans shrugs, "Nah, a cool guy like him doesn't need my kind of help. Well, anyway, I better go. Gotta check on the other kid. You got this, right?" he points behind you as Grillby sets two burgers on the bar. You blink and look in your pockets, realizing you have no money, "Just joking. Grillby, put it on my tab." Sans turns and starts to walk out the door then.

You start to turn back to eat, "Oh, one more thing," you blink as Sans is beside you again, "Missing something?"

He raises his hand in front of you. Sitting in the center of his glove is your keyblade. Blinking, you quickly look at your wrist to see it no longer hanging there, "Whoa, thanks! I don't know what I would do if I lost that!"

"Hey, no problem, Sora," Sans winks at you, "Better take care of it. Hate to see it in the wrong hands."

You were looking down as he spoke, returning the key to the string on your wrist. As he finished, you blinked, realizing what he said, "Wha-?" as you look up to question him, you see he's already gone. Even though you never heard him leave, he's already disappeared. Shrugging, you turn back and start to eat your burger.


	4. Another Reset

**_A/N:_ Hello friends! Thank you for your interest in my story here! I can promise you I have some pretty awesome things planned! This fanfic is going to be so great. But, I'm here to clear one thing up for you, since I don't want anyone to be confused. Sora and Frisk are existing in the timeline at the same time. But, Sora can not reset, and nor does he have that SAVE option. His DETERMINATION does not dominate his soul and is nowhere near as strong as Frisk's.**

 **Or... is it? Only time will tell... Hehehe, now onto chapter 4!**

* * *

 _"Sora! Please reconsider! You will never return!"_

You awake with a start, staring through the darkness at the ceiling. There was a familiar smell in the air, and an overwhelming sense of deja vu. As you sit up and push the blankets off of yourself, you see where the smell was coming from. On the floor beside your bed was a single slice of pie, Butterscotch-Cinnamon pie to be exact. The smell made your stomach growl. Falling back with a groan, you remember you haven't had anything to eat for some time.

"Man, I'm hungry. That pie smells so good, but, why am I craving a cheeseburger?" As the words leave your lips, something flashes through your mind. It was someplace warm and bright that smelled like fried food. You hear a voice ring in your mind.

 _"Better take care of it. Hate to see it in the wrong hands."_

Instinctively, you look at your keyblade hanging from your wrist. It wasn't glowing, but you felt like it had been. You stand and walk out of the room, holding your key in your hand. The voice you heard was one you had just heard. As you walk down the hall, you pass by the stairs and suddenly the keyblade light up, pulling you down them.

"Whoa! Not again!" You nearly stumble down the stairs as the key pulls you. Once you are through the door into the dark, you can hear Toriel calling your name, "Sorry mom! I'll be right back!" You call back to her, though you aren't sure she could even hear you.

As the keyblade leads you back to the door at the end of the long hallway, you sigh. You feel like you're just going in circles,repeating your steps over and over again.

"I don't know what's going on," you tell yourself, and your keyblade as it goes back to hanging from your wrist, "but, we might as well do this. You did bring me all this way for something." Taking a deep breath and a leap of faith, you push the doors open and walk out into the cold.

* * *

The pathway was long and familiar, but you had a feeling you knew what to look for this time. You felt like someone would be there. Despite your better judgement to turn back, your curiosity pushed ahead.

"Right on time, kid," the voice calls out to you again as you cross a little bridge. In the clearing you saw him, a skeleton in a blue jacket and black shorts. He was watching you, waiting as he leaned forward over what looked almost like a stand. Maybe he sold lemonade or hot dogs.

"You're... Sans, right?" you say as you approach the stand. You don't know why, but the name felt right as it left your lips, "Sans the Skeleton."

"Yup, that's me. And you're Sora," he shrugged and winked at you, "Sorry about the burger, kid. I hope you don't have any _beef_ with me now."

You blink, a little bit confused, "Burger...?" as you began to question him, your stomach growled loud enough for him to hear. Sans just laughs as you shake your head, "Wait! That's right! We went for food... at..."

"Grillby's. You're remembering. That's a good sign," he nods as he walks around his station to stand beside you, his hands in his pockets, "This may seem weird to you right now, but trust me, it gets worse."

"Oh, that's good to hear," you sigh, slumping your shoulders, "But...what do you mean by... 'remembering?'"you ask, looking at him. Sans seems to be watching you carefully, "Have I forgotten something?"

Sans shrugged,"Hell if I know, kid. I'm not inside your head. Only you can really answer that question."

"But, I remember you, even though we haven't met."

"Oh we have, just in a previous timeline."

Sans begins to walk ahead, gesturing for you to follow. You feel confused by his words, but follow beside him. You needed answers, and he seemed to be the one to give them, "Wait, timeline? I've been time traveling?"

Sans shook his head, "Not you. You'd remember if you were. You're stuck, like the rest of us." You fold your arms and nod, trying to process all that he was saying. Sans seems to sense your confusion and shrugs, winking at you, "Thinking of it like this, if you draw a line on a piece of paper, its there, you can clearly see it. But, if you erase it and try it again, but in a different way, you've changed what line was. The residue of the line is still there, but you can't see it clearly. The pencil is the one who changed that line, for better or worse, who knows. But, the paper can still see what the line used to be. It can still remember what once was."

You feel more confused as he explains with his strange metaphor, "So... I'm the paper?"

Sans smiles at you, "In a way. You and I both know what that line used to be. Well, you would if you remembered."

"But why? Why do you remember? Why should I?"

Sans sighs, "You're really giving me a workout, kid. I don't have all the answers. I don't know everything, despite what people might think."

You sigh as you look ahead. He seemed to be the one way to explain everything thats going on. But, if he wasn't even sure, then who would? You look down at your keyblade again and a thought hits you. The voice you heard, you remember it was Sans. As you stop in front of him, you smile, "Wait! You gave this back to me. You know what this is?"

"Sure, kid, its a key." Sans says plainly, as if it was obvious. If he had eyebrows, you knew one would be raised in confusion.

"No, no! You said it wouldn't be good for it to end up in the wrong hands!"

"Well yeah. Key's keep secrets hidden, right? If you don't want your secrets out, you have to keep your key out of the wrong hands," he pulls one hand out of his pocket and holds up a little silver key. Its a plain key, not like your keyblade, "We all have our secrets, Sora."

You start to realize that he didn't seem to know what you thought he had. At first, he seemed like he knew something more about your keyblade, but, in a world like this that wasn't possible, right?

Sans shrugs as he puts his key away and starts to walk around you. You watch him for a moment. Something about his manner seemed odd. You could tell he was hiding more than he let on, but, if he wasn't going to tell you, could you really force him?

You shake your head and hurry to catch up with him. How could you think that? You barely know him at all. Maybe in time he would be willing to explain himself a little better. For now, you just had to be patient with him.

"Tell me about the other kid," you say as you return to his side.

Sans doesn't miss a beat as he answers you, "What do you want to know?"

"Well... who are they? Are they around here somewhere still? Toriel seemed... pretty sad to see them go."

Sans looks at you, "Right, you came out of the Ruins," he said, "The kid doesn't say much really, but they made it pretty clear how determined they are to get home, to get out of here,"Sans laughs a little, "Like everyone else, really. Only, way more than any monster is capable of."

"Are they like the paper, too?"

Sans stops, his eyes dark and empty. The light had gone from them. As you stop and turn to him, you feel uneasy. Perhaps you had said something wrong. Rubbing your head, you quickly try to think of an apology or excuse or something to change the subject, when Sans finally speaks.

"More than you know. Maybe it'd be better to see for yourself." Sans snaps his fingers and everything goes dark for a moment.

* * *

Everything was still dark until you realized you had your eyes closed. The smell of the area had changed, as well as the temperature. As you open your eyes, you the room you're in is still pretty dark, but there is a light blue glow coming from the ceiling. As you look up you can see what looks like stars spotting the sky. You smile.

"Whoa! That's amazing!"

"Impressed, kid?" You look over and see Sans leaning over another station, "Pretty close to the real thing, I think."

You raise an eyebrow in confusion as you walk over and look up again, "Wait, those aren't stars?"

"Nah, just sparkling rocks. This cave is filled with 'em. Otherwise it would be too dark to see down here."

"Oh, right," you smile at Sans. It was easy to forget you were underground. The whole layout seemed like it couldn't even exist underground, and yet it was here, "So, why are we here? And how exactly did we get here?"

Sans winks at you, "Easy, we just took a shortcut. Come back here," he waved his hand for you to come behind the station. As you walk around it and stand beside him, he points off to the right, "That's why we're here."

As you look where he was pointing, you see a kid walking down the hall. They were much shorter than you, but wore a striped shirt like you did, only pink and blue. Their brown hair hung down flat, but their face looked almost like they were sleepwalking. You couldn't see their eyes, even though they seemed to look up at you and Sans. You see their expression change to one of curiosity as Sans waves them over.

"Hey kiddo, I was heading to Grillby's with my bud here. Care to join?" Sans asks them. The kid makes some movement with their hands and shakes their head. Sans shrugs and smiles, "Suit yourself, kid."

The kid turns their attention from Sans to you then, seeming to want to speak with you. You lock eyes with them for a moment, shifting uneasily behind the stand. You scratch your head nervously and just smile, "Uh, hey there. You're human right? Uh, my name's Sora."

 _"My name's Sora."_

You blink, confused as you hear your words repeated back to you. You look around in confusion as Sans laughs beside you, "Never seen an Echo Flower, have you kid?"

You look at Sans and tilt your head, "Echo Flower?"

Sans nods and looks at the other kid. The kid looks back behind them where a big blue flower was blooming on the edge of the path, "It's a plant that repeats the last things it hear. If you listen closely to some around Waterfall, you can probably catch someones conversations."

You smile, "Oh! Wow, that's pretty cool!" you walk over and crouch down next to the flower, trying to listen closely. The kid crouches with you and listens. Inside the flower, you can hear a whisper.

"Wow, that's pretty cool!"

You laugh and smile at the kid, "Hey it really does repeat! I've never seen anything like that."

The kid looks at you and just smile a little, tilting their head at you. After a moment, they just stand and turn back to Sans. They give a wave and walk on down the hall.

You watch them walk off before standing and walking back to the station, "They really are pretty quiet."

Sans nods, "Told ya."

"But, that didn't quite answer my question."

Sans closed one eyesocket and looked to the side, leaning on his hand, "It should be pretty obvious, I think. But,maybe you just need to see a bit more first. After all, this was their first time meeting you."

You nod, though you are a bit confused, "Uh, well, yeah."

Sans smiles and shrugs, "Lighten up, kid. After all, what could possibly go wrong?"

For some reason, you feel like you can agree with him. You smile and nod, "Yeah! With two humans here, everything should be fine, right?"


	5. What has happened?

You lean against the station and look up at the "stars" in the ceiling. Even though they aren't real, they twinkle and seem to blink just like stars do. It's strange, but it makes you smile. Such a little glimmer of hope down here underground, even if it isn't real.

"Hey, Sans?" you'd been staring up at the ceiling for so long, you almost forgot he was there. Ever since the other kid left, he'd been pretty quiet. There was still so much to ask him, "What should I do now?"

You waited fora moment, but he never answered. As you turned to him, ready to ask again, you blink in surprise. Sans is still there behind the station, except he's fast asleep. Curious,you turn completely to face him and poke his skull. He starts to snore a little, but stays fast asleep.

"How did you-"

You felt something brush by your arm then. It seemed to tug at your sleeve, as if beckoning you to follow before it disappeared down the hall ahead. As you look up, trying to catch a glimpse of who it was,all you see is a shadow waving to you.

"Hey! Wait!" Without a second thought, you hurry to catch up with it. The hall was dark, much darker than the last room. As you ran ahead, hoping you were still following them the right way, you notice another Echo Flower on the side of the path. Remembering what Sans had said, you crouch down and listen curiously. It was quiet, just above a whisper, but you heard it clearly.

 _"Behind you."_

As the chill ran down your spine, you slowly begin to turn. At the last second, you stand again, facing the way you had just come. But, there was nothing there. Holding your breath, you step forward. The hall in front of you seems to permeate an evil that you are familiar with, the air thick and hard to breathe. As you take another step, you hold your keyblade tight in your fist. You don't know how much good it can do while its so small, but you hope its enough. As the light from the Echo Flower fades behind you, you feel the chill run down your spine again. You turn quickly, only to be knocked back off your feet.

You try to scream out for help, but you can't seem to breathe.

You struggle to free yourself, but the more you do the less you move.

Even though the light was already gone,you feel the darkness pressing down harder on you. You call out again, for anyone.

But nobody came.

* * *

 _"Sora, are you sure about this?"_

 _"Yeah! I've never been so sure. How can we just sit back and watch a world go through so much turmoil?"_

 _"But... Master Yen Sid said-"_

 _"Forget what he said! There's a solution to every problem, right? That's what Leon always says."_

 _"...You idiot. Okay. Go then. But... be careful, okay?"_

 _"Of course! Oh, don't tell Riku where I'm going. I don't want him following me."_

 _"I promise."_

* * *

The sunlight shone on your face. It was warm, it was welcoming, it was... strange.

You gasped as you opened your eyes and sat up quickly. Scrambling to your feet,you brush yourself off in an attempt to regather your bearings. Looking down at yourself, everything seemed to be fine. There wasn't a scratch on you, even though you distinctly remember something sharp in your chest. In your hand you were still gripping your keyblade tight. It hurt a little as you peeled your fingers away from it and let it hang back at your wrist.

"What... was that?" you ask yourself aloud, looking down at your shaking hands.

"Oh, look who's back."

You tensed up, recognizing the voice. It was then that you remembered to look around yourself. You weren't back in that hall with the Echo Flower. You were back in the Ruins once again. Standing in the bed of yellow flowers where you must have landed the first time. As you turn to face the voice, you see him in the center.

"F-Flowey?" you whisper. He seems uninterested in what you have to say, "What?"

"Yeah, I'm Flowey. I literally said that just before you bolted out of the room," Flowey gave a curious look as you began to pace the floor, "Uh, what are you doing?"

"No, I wasn't here, I-I was in that hall... with the Echo Flower. It was so dark..."

"Oho, so you've met with our resident issue, then?"

You look at Flowey, surprised, "Resident issue?"

Flowey smirked, looking pretty proud of himself. It was clear he was happier when he controlled the situation, "Yeah, monsters have been disappearing a lot for them they all wake up the next day like nothing happened. Or rather... the same morning?"

You crouch down to get to the same level as Flowey, "What are you talking about?"

Flowey sighed, looking annoyed again, "You saw that smiley trashbag, didn't you? Surely you've noticed, what with all the deja vu around this place."

You blink, straightening up. He was right, there was a strong feeling like you had done all of this before, like you just had this same conversation with Flowey before. But, what did it mean.

"Deja vu is just a feeling like you've done it all before. What does that have to do with anything?" you hated this feeling of confusion. Nothing ever made sense unless someone would stop being cryptic. And this place seemed to be full of cryptic messages.

Flowey groaned, "Duh, the resets! You've been in this room _so_ many times now, I've stopped counting!" Flowey turned away, looking over at the doorway, "Whether its you or Frisk, it always ends the same. You run out and find Toriel. She shows you around, she gives you the pie, you leave and find Sans. Blah blah blah," he turned quickly to you again, making you jump a little, "It's _always_ _the same._ I'm done playing. What's the point? There's never been an end to this game."

You fold your arms as you try to understand, "So... this is all a game?" you ask with a smile. It seemed all a little too real to be a game. But, what if that's all it really was?

Flowey shot you a disgusted look, "Is that REALLY what you've taken from all of this? FYI, It looks to me like you've died a few times now."

You blinked again at him. Then, without warning, you laugh and fall back on your butt. Flowey looks confused and annoyed, but you just keep on laughing, "Come on, Flowey. I think I'd know if I died. Or, I wouldn't. 'Cuz, you know, I'd be dead."

Flowey sighed, "I'm not explaining this again. You want an answer, then next time go find Sans."

"Next time-?"

Before you could even finish your question, you were surrounded by his "friendliness pellets." He didn't even give you a moment to react as he struck you down, attack after attack. You tried to block, tried to get away, protecting you SOUL, but it was no use. As he prepared his final attack, you heard a gasp. You knew it was Toriel as he footsteps got closer to you. Though your vision was blurred, you knew Flowey must have gone away by then. As you collapsed on the ground, you heard her say:

"You were right, my child. There really is another!"

* * *

 _The moonlight shone in through the windows behind the desk, casting beams of light in the crescent and star shapes. The stars in the sky all twinkled with the brightest light, each filled with life. The desk was neat and tidy, stacks of books and papers lining it in a way that seemed more organized than it must have been. Even so, the old wizard continued to move them in a way so that each was organized differently than it had been before._

 _"Master Yen Sid, they are here."_

 _Yen Sid looked up from his busy work and greeted the three keyblade wielders as they walked into the room and greeted him with a salute. He nodded to each of them, "Thank you for coming, Sora, Riku, Kairi."_

 _"You're message seemed urgent, Master," Riku said, stepping forward first,"Of course, we came as soon as we could. It is pretty late in our world. Some of us had a bit of trouble getting up," he glanced back with a smirk._

 _Sora rubbed his eye and let out a big yawn, "Cut me some slack, I've been just as busy as you lately."_

 _"Busy slacking off."_

 _"Hey!"_

 _"Now now, boys," Yen Sid held his hands up with a slight smile, "There are indeed more pressing matters at hand. Regardless of the circumstance, I appreciate your willingness to assist."_

 _Kairi smiled, "It's our duty after all. So, tell us about these worlds you found."_

 _Yen Sid sat back in his chair and held his hand up. The room around them went dark as the night sky for a moment, then was dotted with smaller versions of every world out there. Many of them familiar and equally unfamiliar. As the three of them looked around spotting familiar worlds with smiles on their faces, three worlds grew in size before each of them. Each one looked desolate and abandoned, as if everyone there had all left._

 _"These three worlds have been going dim as of late. I suspect there is much higher Heartless numbers here than anywhere has seen. And yet, the worlds have not faded yet. Each of you will go down and do some reconnaissance to gather information on what has happened. Find out who is still there and what darkness still lies within."_

 _Yen Sid stood and walked around the desk, standing behind each of them to explain their mission._

 _"Kairi, this world revolves around a circus show. Something mysterious has taken hold of the acts and now no one who goes to the show has been seen leaving it. Find the ringmaster and figure out what is happening to the guests of the show."_

 _Kairi nodded and smiled, "I've never been to the circus before."_

 _Yen Sid smiled and stepped past, putting his hand on Riku's shoulder, "Riku, this world is stuck in a very dark time for everyone. Illness, poverty, and very dangerous crimes. They are seeking out their king who is nowhere to be found. If left alone for too long, something dark may take hold of the throne and throw the world into total turmoil. Seek out the sword and protect it at all costs."_

 _Riku nodded, "Yes, Master Yen Sid."_

 _Yen Sid nodded and stepped over to Sora who was preoccupied with a world to the side of him. A tiny world that freely blinked in and out of existence, as if it were a light bulb that needed to be changed. Yen Sid cleared hi throat and Sora jumped a little, looking at him, "Now, Sora, this world is being controlled by a very dark force that is causing the animals to act unusually. You will go in as one of them to find out what has happened and what has made them so out of control. This shouldn't be a problem for you since you are accustomed to this type of magic."_

 _Sora nodded, but still glanced over at the blinking world._

 _"Is something troubling you?"_

 _"That world... over there. It looks like its in a lot more trouble than these. Shouldn't we-"_

 _"No! You must not ever go to that world," Yen Sid commanded, sternly, "That world is in a constant downward spiral and could disappear at any instance, without any heartless interference. If any of you were to set foot in that world, you would never return."_

 _Sora frowned and looked to Riku and Kairi. Kairi frowned back at him and shrugged. Riku met Sora's gaze and just shook his head._

 _"Alright. Fine."_

 _Yen Sid walked back around to his desk, the worlds all disappearing in a flash, "Now then, you have your missions. Once you are prepared you may each proceed. You will find a special ship designed to take each of you to the worlds." He sat in the chair and turned it around, facing the windows._

 _As the three of them left, Sora looked out one of the windows in the hall. Just above the horizon, he could see the little world blinking. It had looked like a mountain and nothing more, it didn't even look dangerous. Sora clenched his fists, "There has to be some way to help."_

 _"Sora, no." Riku turned quicklyto him, "You heard what Master Yen Sid said. You go there and you won't ever come back."_

 _"So? You've been inside the dark realm, we both have. And you aren't supposed to be able to leave there either," Sora argued._

 _"This is different!"_

 _"How could it be different?! It's a world thats destroying itself!"_

 _"Exactly!"_

 _Sora stopped and looked at Riku. He shook his head, "No, you're right. It's doing this to itself. The world doesn't need my help, or anyones."_

 _Riku sighed, "Just don't do anything stupid." he turned and headed towards his own ship. As he waved to them, he flew off into the sky._

 _"Kairi, I'm going. They need help. No one should be made to suffer alone like that."_


	6. Intuition

You gasp for air as you jolt up from where you lay. Sweat coated your face and neck, though you can't remember why. Something about your dream was calling to you. Or maybe that was something else.

"Can you hear my voice, my child?"

You blink a few times and realize where you were. The dark room was gently lit from the corner by a candelabra. The bin of toys, the various piles of shoes, and even the blankets themselves-you knew them well.

"Toriel?"

As you looked to the side, you see her. She seems to relax as you acknowledge her, though she seems a bit confused, "Oh, I'm sorry, have we met before?"She quickly recognizes your own confused looks and just shakes her head, "Never mind. I am glad you are alright. They were very concerned for your safety."

Your confusion doesn't let up as your rub your head, "They who?" You ask as you swing your legs over the side and look around the room.

As Toriel begins to answer, the door opens and another human comes walking in, one you recognize to be Frisk. As they look around the room, they meet your gaze and smile, hurrying over. Toriel smiles at them, "Oh, there you are, my child. He's just woken up." She tells them. The child holds a plate up to her and tilts their head, "Oh! How thoughtful," Toriel takes the plate and turns back to you, "Here, you must be hungry."

You didn't have to even look at it to know what it was. As soon as Frisk stepped in the room, you could smell the butterscotch and cinnamon. And besides that, it seemed only fitting that Toriel gave you the pie. It seemed right to you somehow. But, even though your stomach was growling loudly as you brought the pie closer to yourself, you couldn't find your appetite. There was something else you needed to do first.

"Is something wrong? Oh, do you not like butterscotch?" Toriel sounded almost sad, "Or is it the cinnamon?"

You smile and her and shake your head to reassure her, "No no, it's my favorite! It's just..." You look at Frisk, "What happened?"

Frisk tilted their head, frowning just a little bit. It almost looked as if they wanted to tell you what happened, but they couldn't. Toriel tilted her head as well, "You must have fallen from the surface. All of the humans who have come down here, even Frisk here, have all come down from the same hole in the cavern. And of course, from there it seemed like you were being picked on by a pesky weaker monster," she sighed, "He has become a nuisance, but he mostly keeps to himself."

"You mean Flowey?" As you said the name, you noticed Frisk flinched a little and looked down.

Toriel gave a smile, "Is that his name? I will have to remember that the next time he tries to pick on someone."

You set the pie down on the bed beside you and stand, looking around, "Is that really all that happened?" You ask them. As you step past them and look more around the room, noticing that it was all exactly the same, you continue, "It almost feels like... there was more. Like I'm missing something here."

"I do not think I understand what you mean."

As you turn back to face them, you feel a tug at your sleeve. Frisk was looking at you, trying to tell you something. They frowned, pulling your arm towards the doorway. Yo tilt your head, confused, "I don't understand."

Frisk quickly looks you over, as if trying to find something on your person. As they gave a little gasp, they smile and hold up your right hand, pointing to your key. As you watch them, still a bit confused, it dawns on you. You blink in realization, "Wait, there was something else. There was... Sans!" Frisk gave a delighted smile as they nodded a few times quickly and hurried out of the room. They gestured for you to follow.

Toriel blinked, realizing there was more going on than she could understand, "Wait, you both know Sans?"

You look at Toriel, "Yeah, do you?"

"We've only ever spoken through the door leading out. He tells the funniest jokes," she smiled at the memory, "You must be a friend of his, then, right? Somehow anyway."

You smile and nod, "Yes. And right now, Frisk and I need to go talk to him."'

Toriel gave a concerned look, "Wait, I can't allow you to leave the ruins! It's dangerous, and-"

"Mom," Toriel looked surprised, her face flushed a little as you smile at her, "We'll be fine. I promise. I will take care of Frisk, and Sans will too."

Toriel blinked, then relaxed as her face fell into a sad smile, "You be careful too, my child."

"Sora." you smile and nod at her.

She laughs a little and nods back to you, "Sora, take care of yourself and Frisk."

"I will!" You wave as you hurry out to catch up with Frisk.

* * *

As you head down the stairs and along the long halls, you finally reach the doors leading out of the Ruins. Frisk is there, waiting, waving to you as you approach. Once you get close enough, they smile and point up at the door. You look back and forth between them, confused for a moment. Frisk frowns and points to their right wrist, then to the door again.

You blink and look at your wrist, suddenly remembering your keyblade. As you hold it in your hand, you feel the power coming from it. You smile and look at Frisk, "Right, I got this!" as you jump back, you point your key at the door. It lights up for a moment, a keyhole appearing on the door, before you hear a loud clicking sound. Once the light fades away, Frisk pats your shoulder and smiles, giving you a thumbs up. You smile back as you watch them push the door open and walk out.

Before following them, you look at your keyblade. Something felt off as the power faded back from it, but you shrugged it off and let the key hang again, "A key to open any door. Hey, what's the worst that could happen?" With a smile, you step out into the cold air to join Frisk.

Frisk grabbed you free hand and pulled you along down the path. As you reached the end of the trees and stepped into the clearing, you saw Sans there waiting, leaning against his station. He seemed to be thinking about something. As he heard you approach and stop and few feet from him, the whites of his eyes return and fall on you. He seems to look you both over before speaking. Something about the way he stood there sent a chill down your spine.

Or maybe it was the cold air.

"Heya, you must be new around here to just pop up like this," If he had eyebrows, you could tell one would be raised in this moment, "Or maybe I should skip the introductions. I think we're pretty good friends at this point. Right?"

Though he was speaking to you both, you could tell the question was directed at Frisk. You look at them but they seem un-phased by the question, or anything really. They just nod in agreement. There was a stillness in the air that as beginning to make you uncomfortable. You rub your head and quickly think of something to break the tension.

"Oh uh, hey, Sans?" Sans' eyes flick to you, his shoulders seeming to relax a little, "Why are graveyards so noisy?"

Sans tilted his head a little, "Why?"

You smile and step forward a little, eager, "Because of all the coffin!"

Sans looked a little surprised for just a moment before he started to laugh, "Wow, that's a good one, kid."

You grin, proud of yourself, "Thought you'd enjoy that," you look at Frisk, nudging them a little, but they don't seem to be quite as amused as Sans.

Sans looked at you, waving his hand a bit to get your attention, "Why is the skeleton so calm?" You tilt your head and shrug. Sans smiles, "Because nothing gets under his skin!"

As he laughs, you laugh with him. You both stand there together, just laughing over your own jokes. Not too long after, Frisk pulls at your sleeve, trying to get your attention. You smile and look at them, "Oh, sorry Frisk. I couldn't help myself."

"Seems the kid really has a _bone_ to pick with you."

"Maybe, but I got a _femur_ jokes to tell first!"

It's going _tibia_ a great time! Just relax, Frisk."

"OH MY GOSH."

Silence falls over the clearing as Sans and Frisk look up to see Papyrus coming closer. He seems annoyed by something, and at the same time Sans seems to be enjoying it.

"Oh hey bro." Sans greeted him.

Papyrus sighed, his hands on his hips as he looked down at Sans, "Sans! I knew I heard bad puns! Why must you insist on boondoggling so much?! What if a human comes through?!"

Sans gestures towards you and Frisk, "Who do you think was helping with the puns?"

As Papyrus turns his attention to you both, you give a meek smile and a little wave. You remember Sans talking about how much of a human hunting fanatic his brother was. It takes him a moment, but finally it sinks in. He gasps slowly and smiles, "SANS?! Are those... HUMANS?"

"Yes."

"I did it! FINALLY! I will be able to join the royal guard! I will be so popular! Popular! POPULAR!" Papyrus points at you two, making you jump a little, "Humans! You shall not pass this area! I, The Great Papyrus, will capture you with my magnificent and ingeniously designed puzzles! And once you are captured, you will be delivered straight to Undyne! Who will take you to the capital! And-"

"W-Wait! Who's Undyne?" You interrupt him with your question.

He seems a bit surprised by the sudden question, as he thinks it over for a moment, "Undyne is the leader of the Royal Guard, of course! She is the reason I am out here with my brother looking for humans! And Once I bring you to her, she will HAVE to let me into the Royal Guard! So! You had better! Be prepared! For my puzzles are very difficult! Nyeh heh heh!"

Papyrus turns back down the path and laughs as he marches off. You feel as if nothing had been truly answered. It was almost as if he was avoiding confrontation with you. You look at Sans who just shrugs, as if he knew exactly what you were thinking.

"Papyrus wants to catch a human pretty bad, but, he loves his puzzles just a little more. Play along, huh?" His gaze falls on Frisk again, his shoulders tensing just a little as he turns away, towards the Ruins, "I'll be up ahead."

You watch him walk off for a moment, confused, "Sans is acting kind of weird, don't you think?" You ask Frisk. When you turn back to face them, you see Frisk has already walked up ahead, "Hey! Wait up!" You hurry to catch up, glancing back again. Though the path is a straight shot, you see that Sans is gone.

* * *

"Humans! you shall not pass!"

As you and Frisk walk along the path, you come to the edge of the cliff, Sans and Papyrus standing some yards away. You blink at Sans, surprised to see him ahead of you even though he had never passed you. Papyrus continues to speak, explaining his puzzle, but Sans just seems to watch Frisk.

"Well? Go on! Give it a shot then!"

Frisk pulls at your sleeve again, bringing you back to the situation at hand. As you look up, you see Papyrus watching you, holding a strange orb. Tilting your head you step forward, immediately hitting a wall. As you feel the wall, you see Papyrus jump, an electro shock surging through him.

"SANS! What did you do!" he demands, turning to his brother.

Sans winks, looking at him, "I think they are supposed to hold the orb," he tells him.

"Ah!" Papyrus nods, "Yes, of course!" As he starts to walk towards you, through the maze he has created, you see he is leaving footprints in the snow. You try not to chuckle as he tosses the orb in the air and runs back the way he came. Once he reaches the other side, the orb lands on Frisk's head, "NOW give it a shot!"

As you watch, Frisk tilts their head a little, the orb not moving an inch, stepping forward. They followed the path Papyrus had taken, practically stepping in his footsteps in the snow. You cover your mouth to keep from laughing out loud.

As they reach the opposite side, they stand in front of Papyrus. Papyrus nods, "very sneaky, human! You solved it easily! Almost too easily! Even so, the next one will not be so simple, it was designed by my brother, Sans! You will be amazed! I know I am!"

Papyrus laughed again and zoomed off down the pathway-backwards. Frisk followed after him, dropping the orb into the snow.

You walk over after a moment, following Papyrus' path through the maze, and look at Sans. his eyes were closed as you approached him. You tilt your head a bit, "You okay, Sans? You seem a bit-"

"On edge?" You blink as you watch Sans open his eyes, but see no white to them. You feel uneasy, stepping back just a little. Subconsciously, you grab your keyblade in your hand and hold it tight. Sans raised his chin a little, "Let me give you a bit of advice, kid. I would keep an eye on your own back. Cuz if you continue blindly like you are, you're really not gonna like what happens."

You frown, confused by his sudden change in attitude, "What is this all of a sudden? You've never been so serious. And what do you mean, continue blindly?"

Sans' grin seemed to expand a little. He raised his hand and placed it on your head. You blink, confused for a moment, then feel yourself freeze where you stand. As you meet his gaze, you see his one eye has changed, flashing colors between blue and yellow quickly, "I think it's time you saw what's happening before you wake each time. If you want to help like you're always saying you do... then I grant you a bit. My own intuition. Then you'll see."

As you stare into his eyes, everything starts to go dark. Then, in a sudden burst of light images start flashing. They were all similar, but somehow different. And each one ended the same. All the while, you could hear many different Sanses saying the same line over and over.

 _"If you follow Frisk, you're gonna have a bad time, kid."_


	7. It's raining somewhere else

You gasp and step back, pulling yourself from his grasp. Sans was watching you carefully, waiting as you caught your breath. You look down at your hands, feeling them shake violently. Despite everything, you feel as if you don't even know yourself anymore. The images flashing in your mind began to stop as you came back to what you hoped was reality. You looked up at Sans, meeting his wary gaze.

"What..." You couldn't find the right words to describe what you were feeling. So many things were going through your mind.

"It always ends the same," Sans began, tucking his hands back in his pockets. He turned and started to walk, "And it will. Again. And again. And again. Just don't say I didn't warn ya."

His voice faded off as he disappeared around a tree. You stand there confused as you watch him walk away the same in an endless set of ways. It felt wrong, but you didn't know how to stop it. With a sigh, you just fall back into the snow and stare at the ceiling of the cave. It was farther up than you were sure it seemed, the specks of lights from the "stars" lighting up separate section and stalactites.

"Maybe I'm just going crazy down here underground," you say aloud, "I can't imagine living down here my whole life."

"You're telling me! It's _snow_ bad down here we've got icicles for tears!"

You blinked as you heard someone flutter closer to you. You sit up to see a large feathered monster with a head shaped sort of like a snowflake. You smile and tilt your head, "Haha! Icicle tears, good one."

The monster puffs his chest or proudly "of course it is! I am a pro after all! That'll show dad, I am very funny." He just cackles to himself and says nothing but puns as he walked away.

You smile to yourself as you stand and brush the snow off of yourself. Looking the way he went, you remember the choice you have to make. Would you listen and do what Sans said and abandon Frisk when they seemed to like you now?

Or would you follow blindly and watch yourself die over and over again?

Reluctant, you start walking.

* * *

The forest seems to expand further than you would have originally thought, the cold only getting more and more intense. You start to wonder if you really are even underground, but a glance up at the ceiling will tell you you definitely still are. With a sigh, you stop. A fork in the road looks less than promising.

You glance to the side and see a sign pointing in every direction reading "Ice"

"Oh look, north will get me to more ice. Just what I've always wanted." You sigh and start walking down one of the side paths, "How do these monsters navigate around here?"

You imagine a bunch of monsters wandering around in the dark, bumping into each other, walking circles around trees. The thought, though kinda sad, makes you laugh. Since they must have made it to where they are now, it must not be all bad.

A sound makes you stop then, a gentle and very familiar one. It was rushing water, a gentle river. As you hurry around another tree, you see a little boat on the edge of a tiny river. The far wall of the river looked different from the side you were on. Curious, you walked over. The little boat had a head that looked a lot like a little dog. The boat itself didn't look like it held more than a few people.

"Oh hello."

You jumped and realized that there was someone in the boat. You look up and see a figure in a dark cloak, their face was completely hidden in shadows. You tilt your head and just smile, "Oh, sorry! I didn't see you there."

"That is quite alright, child. Not many notice me at first," the cloak shook a little as if they were quietly laughing to them self about an unheard joke, "I'm the River man. Or am I the River woman? It doesn't matter."

You just smile, "I'm Sora. Where does this river go exactly?"

"Oh here and there, would you like to find out?"

You shrug and nod, "Sure, why not?"

Riverperson moves forward in the boat to give you a bit of space as you climb in, "Away we go, tra la la."

As you look over the side of the boat you see it suddenly lift out of the water with little feet and start running in top of the water. The sudden motion jerks you back. You grip the sides of the boat, hanging on for your life, a wide smile crossing your face. You couldn't remember the last time you had so much fun.

But you suspected it was more than a few lives ago.

"Tra la la, I heard Asgore has a favorite food," you look at them, but before you can question what it is they were talking about, the boat stops. As you look around, you see this area is a lot different, the opposite of the snowy area you just came from. As you climb out, the heat radiates from all around, making you sweat immediately.

"Welcome to Hotland. Hope you enjoy your stay. Tra la la."

You look back in enough time to see the boat skip across the water again. Deciding you had no choice now, you continue on the path, looking around. The cavern was much brighter here, the ceiling visible even from this far off. Glancing over the edge of the cliff you saw why. Just below was a sea of hot magma, moving side to side like a river. You step back, feeling an ironic chill run down your spine.

"This can't be safe," you say to yourself as you continue walking, keeping to the center of the path. As you look back up, you see Frisk on the path just ahead. You blink and hesitate. You watch them for a moment as they walk to a big white building that says "Lab" over the door.

Once their back was to you, you quickly sneak down the path they came from. You practically hold your breath as you sprint down the center of the path and out of sight. Once you made it to another platform, you glance back and catch your breath. The top of the lab was still in sight, but you couldn't see Frisk.

And you really hope they didn't see you.

With a sigh you look ahead. You start to walk, but freeze seeing something lying on the bridge. It seemed to be someone completely in armor. They looked blue with red hair on top. As you tiptoed closer to get a better look, you see the pained look on their face, which seemed dry and scaly, like a fish out of water. You look around for something to help with but the only thing in the area is an empty water cooler.

"There's gotta be something I can do..." you start to panic as you become more and more aware of the monsters breathing. You look around once more, then down at your keyblade. A thought struck you instantly. You smack your forehead and smile "Duh!"

As you hold your keyblade tight in your hand, you point it at the monster and focus with all your might, hoping it will work. You close your eyes as you feel the energy flowing through you. As you open your eyes again, you gasp and see a shower of green fall over the monster. They behind to stir before coughing a few times.

As you let your keyblade hang again, you hurry over to help them up, "Whoa easy!" Their armor is burning hot to the touch, "Ow! Geez, how can you stand that?"

As the monster stands, they eye you suspiciously. Looking at their face you can tell they are some sort of fish monster, face blue and scaly with ears to match. One eye was watching you, the other covered by an eye patch.

"I hate Hotland." You hear them mumble as they stand and walk back across the bridge. You want to follow them and make sure they're okay, but you can bring yourself to move. Not from better lack of trying. With a frown, you turn away.

"I see you took my advice, kid."

You blink as Sans appears, leaning against the water cooler. He's watching you in the same way he had been watching Frisk earlier in the snow. You tilt your head and step closer, confused, "What do you mean?"

"You saved Undyne's life when Frisk tried to end it." He explained, gesturing the way the fish had gone, She'd be more appreciative if she wasn't so stubborn."

"That was Undyne? The one Papyrus mentioned?"

"Yup. Head of the Royal Guard herself."

"How did Frisk get past her?"

Sans was quiet for a moment. He stepped close to you and stood beside you, facing the opposite way. He didn't say anything, and you almost couldn't breathe. Though he wasn't making any movements, you could almost feel something radiating off of him. It wasn't the same as the other monsters.

They are pretty determined. Can you say the same?"

You blinked and turned to look at him, but he had vanished. You couldn't figure out what this feeling was, but you weren't even sure you wanted to know anymore. Up ahead of you, you spotted a but of movement and caught sight of Frisk waving at you. They were smiling, beckoning you to follow them.

You squinted your eyes as you watched them. You raised your hand, starting to wave back. You tense and freeze halfway through. Behind Frisk you see a shadow waving with them. It had a wide smile and a dark aura that was all too familiar to you. You step back a little and Frisk frowns. You watch them for a moment as the shadows disappears from behind them. Without a moment's hesitation, you turn and start running down the corridor towards a darker are than Hotland. The shadows seem to dance around you, as if taunting you. As you grip your keyblade tight, you run faster, hoping they can't keep up.

And lucky for you, they don't.

* * *

The corridor is dark and damp the further you run. You realize that this must be the area between the hot and cold areas. It seemed odd to you that the two would be together. This part if the underground just seemed wet. It was as if the snow that came here was melted from the heat down the hall, causing it to rain.

The sound of rushing water is more comforting to you as it gets louder. Though the cave is darker than dark, you still feel like you managed to escape.

Then you fall flat on your face, tripping over something hard. As the ground connects with your nose, you lie there and wonder where you ever went wrong in life.

"Hey! Watch it punk! That armor is fragile when it overheats!"

You look around as you start to stand again. On the side of the path you can see Undyne sitting beside a small pool of water, a grouping of crystals lighting the path up a little. Shes sitting with one leg in the water and the other propped up so she can lean on it. She still has the same suspicious look on her face, but her mouth is turn down a bit in a pointy toothed scowl.

"Oh sorry! It was too dark to see.." you look back at the ground and see the piece of armor you tripped over was a chest plate. It still glowed a little from the heat, but was slowly fading back to the black steel.

Undyne sighed, "It's alright. The dark can be overbearing if you aren't used to it."

You rub your head, glancing back down the corridor you came from, "I'll say..." you mumble to yourself.

"Hey, you... you uh saved me from heatstroke back there." She started to say. When you looked at her, she looks away quickly "The human will pay for almost killing me in the most cowardly of ways. And for what they did to Papyrus."

The feel a chill rolling down your back. You were almost afraid to ask, but felt you had no choice, "What... happened to Papyrus?"

Undyne looks at you, the suspicious look in her eye fading a bit as she frowns. She sighs and looks at the water. You walk closer and sit beside her on the edge as she dips her other leg into the water, "He meets with me to give me a progress report every day just outside of Snowdin. His own wish, I might add. But, he didn't come today." She scowled "He called me and said he had found a human he was going to capture. They must have..."

She scowled and slammed her fist against the ground. The water shook from the vibration, "And his brother! He's so lazy. He doesn't even seem concerned for him! How could he just let them go past him without even trying to stop them?!"

You tense as you watch her, waiting for her to turn and come at you next. But she just slumps her shoulders and leans forward on her knees. She doesn't say anything else as she just watches the ripples in the water. You frown too and look down. It didn't seem right to you. Sans didn't seem like the type to care much about anyone, but surely he cared about his brother at least. He was definitely a different person when Papyrus wasn't around.

"I don't think that's true." You feel Undyne's gaze turn to you. You could almost guess she was about to argue it, but you continued on, "I think Sans just can't handle it. Maybe he doesn't know what to do without Papyrus around."

You turn an look up at Undyne. She's watching you closely, but she's frowning, as if not wanting to admit you were right.

"I knew someone like him. Someone who lost the one he was closest to, but, he didn't understand the way he was feeling. He died for his friend... died for me." You look out across the water. It wasn't something you had thought about for a long time, but a part of you thought about it often. He couldn't help but get you to really think about it for once, to really think what had happened for his sake.

Undyne rubbed her head, "That's rough. Sorry for yah, kid-"

"Of course, he came back to life with a different identity and no memory any of that happened." You interrupt her suddenly. She looks at you in shock. You meet her gaze and shrugged, "I'm just as surprised as you."

Undyne blinked a few times, then just started laughing. She slapped your back, really hard, a few times until you stumbled forward into the water. As you shook the water from your head you looked at her as she grinned ear to ear, "You know what? Thanks kid. I really needed a good laugh. You arent so bad for a human."

You blink and tense up, "Wait, you knew I was human?"

"Duh, punk. I can tell by your soul. Its not like a monsters soul."

"Then... why didn't you try to capture me?"

Undyne rubbed her head, looking a bit embarrassed, "Well, you did kinda save my skin. And besides, the other kids gone off to see Asgore. There's no way they'll be able to beat him." She grinned again as she stood, looking proud, "We monsters will be free to take the surface back from the humans. You'll see."

As she starts to turn back to gather her armor pieces, you scurry back up from the water, "Wait! You know where they're going, could you take me there? To see the king?"

Undyne strapped the armor back on and held her helmet under her arm "Sorry, punk. You gotta go through Hotland to get there. And I'd much rather go home and rest. I really need it."

You slump your shoulders as you watch her walk off down the corridor. Behind her you could hear the gentle sound of a music box. It was almost soothing the way it made its way to you beyond the rain drops. As you closed your eyes, you pondered what you should do next. Asgore was past Hotland. That had to be where Frisk was going. Would you meet up with them?

Or would you meet Asgore yourself?


	8. The Lab

_The air is stagnant all around, it's hard to take even the slightest breath. And yet, you are breathing it in deeply. The evidence of what you have done is all around you. Thickening the air, making your blood boil. As you step down the long hall, you feel the warm light hit your face. It's a familiar warmth, one that excites you with each step you take._

 _"Heya, you've been busy."_

 _As you stop, you look ahead and see the familiar smile, accompanied by troubled eyes. As he dropped his hood down, you feel your muscles tense. You had been preparing for this moment. You knew he had to snap eventually. And it only took killing everyone else to get him to that point. It was almost disappointing. Everything that had happened down here, all the torment and all the grief, he always stays off to the side, just watching._

 _Ever the watchful eyes of the underground._

 _"It's wonderful to see you, Sans," you say to him. You almost can't even recognize your own voice, though you are certain it is you._

 _Sans seems to ten, narrowing his eyes a bit as you say his name. He shrugs a bit as he speaks, "Y'know, Sora... I kinda know what to expect in this world. Nothing ever changes. But you... I thought I knew why you were here. And I hate to be wrong."_

 _You grin as wide as you can and hold your arms to the side. On your right wrist, you notice your keyblade seems to be missing, and in your hand is just a large kitchen knife. The crown necklace has been replaced by a heart shaped locket. It's not right, but somehow it_ feels _like this is how it is supposed to go. You're heart knew just what it wanted, and as the room began to turn black, the shadows against the wall beginning to take shape, you step forward._

 _"Shall we get started then?"_

* * *

The cold shadow swallowing you was a feeling you remembered well. It was dark, too dark to even see the hand in front of your face. And even though you want to scream, want to escape, want to run, you can't. Your limbs feel a mile away. Your voice too silent to be heard. You try to reach for your keyblade out of instinct, but you couldn't find it. Your hand knew it was there, just out of reach, but your couldn't reach it.

Then, the dark was gone. Light splashed against you like a rushing wave, and you were free.

And wet.

When you opened your eyes, you gasped and stood up straight. Looking around, you remembered you had been sitting by the edge of a small pool of water. The light from the few echo flowers on the edge of the pool illuminated the area. As you climbed back out and shook the water from your clothes, you remembered what Undyne had said.

"Frisk is going to see the King." You sigh and nod, straightening yourself up, "If there's anyone who can fix this, it's gotta be him, right?" You smile to yourself and walk around the edge of the water to the path you had come from. As you glance down, you see the echo flower turn towards you. Curious, you kneel down and listen to it.

"Do you think even the worst person can change? That anyone can be a good person if they just try?"

You recognized Sans' voice coming from the flower. You figure he must have come walking by after you had talked to Undyne, and after you must have fallen asleep. Maybe he hadn't seen you lying there in the ground. Or, maybe he just left you, hoping you'd wake up on your own.

Or is he the reason you fell asleep?

You shake your head and stand, smiling "No way, Sans wouldn't do that. I wouldn't do anything to him, so why would he want to hurt me?" You think back to the dream you had and a shiver runs down your spine, "Just a dream... right?"

You looked down at the echo flower and it repeats your words back to you, "Just a dream... right?"

Hearing the uncertainty in your own voice made you more than a little uneasy. You just shake your head and head down the path, back towards Hotland. It was just a dream, you were certain of it.

* * *

You immediately began to sweat, even before you saw the light from the lava. Trekking back across Hotland proved to be more of a task the second time, but you kept going, back the way you knew you had to go .

As you reach the area that the River Person had dropped you off in, you take note again of the large building with "Lab" written on the side. Nothing had changed, except now, the door was open. Something in your said you should head up the path away from the lab, but your curiosity got the better of you. Even knowing that something could be around every corner ready to attack you, you walk inside the lab.

Its dark, the only lights coming from the open door, a monitor a few yards away, and another little light on the other side. You step in further, cautious and slow.

"Hello? Is someone here?" You call out. Part of you hopes someone answers, but the other part hopes they don't.

As you walk past the monitor, you see it is stationary, watching some weird looking restaurant or resort. There is nothing moving on the screen and you aren't sure you know how to move it to look around. You fold your arms and tilt you head. It's then that you hear the quiet sobbing. At first. It surprised you, making you look all around to find where it came from.

At first, it was too dark to see anything. As you grew near, you could see the glow of a little light coming from a hole in the wall. The figure inside looked like a shaking shadow the way it sobbed. It was clutching what looked like a cell phone in its hand. The light illuminated a bit of their face.

"Um... are you okay?" You asked. At the first word, the figured jumped, shaking even more.

"Wh-Who a-are you..?" The light began to illuminate her face a little more, showing the tears streaming down under her big round glasses. She wiped them away, with what looked like claws, as she stood slowly, "P-Please... leave me a-alone..."

She was moving out of the hole in the wall now, feeling around the wall with a shaking hand. You frowned and held your hands up to her, "Whoa, easy now. I don't want to hurt you."

She didn't stop reaching until she seemed to find what she was looking for. A blinding light turned on from above, you covering your eyes for a moment until your eyes adjusted. Once you managed to blink the blindness away, you looked up. The monster had already scurried away up the escalator to the upper level. You watched her for a moment, "Wait!" You call after her as you follow her upstairs.

The room above was much different than the lab below. Once you reached the top, you could see bookshelves filled with comics of every kind next to a machine dripping some pink goo. Next to the machine there was a work bench with a bunch of dusty pieces of metal. One piece caught your eye as you walked closer to the bench. Gently picking it up to examine it, you saw it was a pink heart, a large crack going up the middle. It was odd, and out of place, but something about it was almost sad.

"D-Don't you touch that!"

You look to the side to see the monster again. She was a yellow lizard sort of creature. She was holding a plastic knife pointed at you. Her claws were shaking violently. She was hiding behind a small, square bed, trying to give you an intimidating look, but just looked scared.

You set the piece of metal down and held your hands up "I'm sorry! I promise, I mean no harm."

"N-No! Y-You were working w-with... with that human!"

You shake your head, stepping forward a little, "No! I'm not with them! I just want to see the king!"

She cowered down a little, though she kept the knife up, "Th-The king?"

You nod, "Yes. He's gotta be able to stop the kid, right?"

She blinked, raising her head a little. She lowered the knife and stepped out from behind the bed. She was still shaking a little, but sniffled and looked down, "U-Undyne said... th-there was one..."

You smile, relaxing a little, "Yeah! I helped Undyne when she was overheating. Shes the one who told me the kid is going to see the king."

"Sh-She did?"

"I'm Sora, what's your name?"

"A-Alphys... I-I'm the R-Royal scientist."

You step closer to her and smile, nodding, "It's nice to meet you, Alphys. Here, give me the knife."

Alphys hesitates as you move closer to her, holding your hand out. She seems uneasy, but places the plastic knife in your hand, quickly pulling her own back. You give a sigh of relief and set the knife back on the workbench. She watches you as you turn back, "There, see? Everything is alright now."

Alphys shifts her gaze from you back to the work bench. Something flashes across her expression and she just crumples to the ground. She covers her eyes and begins to sob again, "Wh-What do I..."

You glance back at the bench again, "What happened, Alphys?"

Between her sobs you could make out a few words, "Th-The human... Gone... Asgore..."

You sigh, this was going nowhere. As you turn back to her, you kneel in front of her so you could look into her face, "Listen, whatever happened, everything will be fine, okay? Maybe you should talk to Undyne, anything would be better than staying here alone in the dark, right?"

Alphys met your gaze and sniffled, rubbing her eyes, "U-Undyne... sh-she's really okay?"

You smile at her and nod, "Yeah, she's just resting at home," as you stand again, you hold a hand out to help her up, "I think you could use a break. Whatever happened here, it's over, right?"

Alphys took your hand and stood, looking down, "O-Over..." She looks up at the work bench again and slowly walks over. You tense for just a moment until you see her pick up the cracked heart again. Her eyes tear up again as she holds the scrap of metal close, "I-I'm sorry..." she says quietly to it. When she looks up to meet your confused look, she just forces a little smile, "I-I'll be alright."

"What do you have to be sorry for, Alphys?"

Alphys quickly turned away from you, avoiding the question, "I-If you continue up the path, y-you'll find an e-elevator," she explains, "Th-That will take you up to... To the resort. Through there, h-head for the elevator in the core. I-It goes straight to the castle."

As you nod and thank her, she scurries back down the opposite escalator and out the open door. She kept her gaze down on the ground in front of her the whole way out. She seemed a bit better the faster she moved, but something still seemed off. She never did answer your question.

As you started to walk towards the down escalator, you noticed the poster hanging on the wall. It seemed to be some sort of ad for a TV show. There was a robot in a spotlight holding a microphone. The letters "MTT" were in lights above it. At the top the corner of the poster had been folded down and a little message was handwritten. It read: "Thank you for making my dreams come true."

* * *

Back outside, you followed the directions that Alphys had told you and made it to the elevator. There was an eerie silence that seemed to hang over Hotland as you walked. It was as if there was a presence that was unwelcomed and yet ever present. Inside the elevator, the feeling of dread grew. It was a clean little box, as if no one had been in it for some time. As you stand in the back, you press the top most button and wait. Once the doors close, you sigh.

"This is the most normal thing I've done in a while," you can't help but smile as you think about it. Even in this crazy world, you can still manage to think of something better.

 _Something still isn't right, Sora,_ you hear a voice speak to you.

You sigh, shaking your head, "Don't worry so much, there isn't anything-"

 _But what about the visions? Do you really believe those are just dreams?_ You clench your fists. You hated to admit he was right, but he definitely had a point. _Sans gave us a bit of his intuition. Could those visions be-?_

"-something that has happened already?"

 _Or something that will._

You shake your head quickly, "Roxas, now you're just thinking too much into it," you wave your hand, "Intuition isn't the same as seeing the future."

Roxas sighs, _I just think maybe-_

Silence falls when the elevator stops just before the top floor and the door opens. You look ahead to see why and freeze standing against the wall, a familiar face lighting up when they see you.

"Oh... Frisk," you give a nervous smile and wave. Frisk smiles big at you and nods as they step inside and stand beside you. They point upwards and you nod, "Yeah, I'm going up, too."

Frisk seems delighted as they take your hand and squeeze it. They look ahead as the door closes and the elevator begins to rise again. The air that was once clean becomes tainted all of a sudden, dust seeming to come off of Frisk every time they shift. You glance down at them, their excited look almost eerie. The grip they had on your hand seemed much stronger than you would have thought possible for such a small child. After a moment, they look up at you and meet your gaze. Their eyes open a little, but they were dark, almost as if there was nothing to them.

For a moment, they flashed red and made you cringe.


	9. The Secret's Out

The elevator stopped once it reached the top, and opened up. The tense atmosphere disappeared immediately and was replaced by the sweltering heat that seemed to only be worse up here. You dared not look over the edge as Frisk pulls you along down the pathway. Your unease begins to turn to curiosity as you walk beside them.

"Wow, I would never have guessed this whole place is really a cave underground," you say out loud, looking up at the ceiling. The light coming from the lava illuminates the cave all the way to the ceiling where you can see tiny crystals stuck like in the darker area. You smile And look at Frisk, "Right? Like. This place is huge!"

Frisk wasn't paying any attention to you as they led the way. The light around you changed as you began to walk through a much narrower hall in the cave. It was darker for a moment, then lit up like a city street at night. The building ahead of you looked like a tall apartment building, "MTT" hanging above the door with a couple happy looking robots. There wasn't enough time to really take in the view before Frisk pulled you inside and straight back behind a broken fountain. A few monsters were watching you both as you walked by, peeking around corners, trying to keep hidden.

 _I don't like this, man,_ you could feel Roxas' apprehension as it slowly became your own.

You shake your head, now's not the time to be worrying. You push him back, trying to ignore what he was telling you. _We came here to help,_ you tell him. After a moment, he goes silent.

* * *

Frisk seemed to be in a big hurry as they led you through a very industrial looking area. They took you straight through an elevator when you remember what Alphys had said. This must be the Core, whatever that meant. It was just as deserted as the rest of the underground, not even a sound.

Once you reached the top, they pulled you through a large doorway into a dark room. It was just as quiet, but the silence was somehow unsettling. You slowed your pace a little, Frisk finally letting your hand go as they turned and faced you with a confused look.

"Oh, sorry, I just... don't have a lot of good experiences with darkness." You rub your head, trying the awkward moment off.

Frisk stared at you for a moment, waiting.

You blink, "What?"

They just turn and start walking again, glancing back at you every few steps.

"Well, golly! You sure are disappointing everyone, aren't'cha?"

The familiar voice makes you turn quickly, "Flowey? What are you doing here?"

Flowey just rolled his eyes, "Is that really your concern right now?" He paused, as if waiting for you to answer. You couldn't think of any sort of answer, so Flowey just groans, "Geez, kid! You're worse than Frisk! No wonder everyone else is starting to hate you."

"Hate me? What have I done?"

"You don't remember?" Flowey gives a sly, and menacing smile, "You're new to this reset thing, so I'll fill you in on something. Frisk can reset this timeline anytime they want, for any reason. Each timeline is a little bit different, like, for example, there are some where everyone is friends... and there are some where you go and kill everyone with Frisk."

You felt your skin go cold, as if your heart stopped and all the blood turned to ice, "What? I would never-!"

"Oh but you would," Flowey moves a bit closer to you, "And you have."

You put your hand to your head and turn to the side. The visions made sense to you now. They weren't visions of the future, but of possible futures made from past decisions. Was that why Frisk brought you here now? You remembered what Undyne had said about Papyrus, how Sans had been acting, and how strange Alphys seemed. This timeline was painted red, but you couldn't remember ever attacking anyone.

But you were never with Frisk.

"But, something has changed," Flowey went on, "you haven't hurt anyone. In fact, you keep going back and undoing Frisk's handy work. I wonder how they feel about that?"

You looked towards the doorway, but Frisk was already gone. You have never really had the chance to talk to Frisk, so it was hard for you to say how they might feel. Not that they seemed be able to talk anyway.

"What will you do now, Sora? The way things are going... you realize this will be a terrible battle?"

"I can take them."

Flowey looks surprised, as if he wasn't expecting you to answer, let alone answer like that "Excuse me?"

You look at Flowey and smile, "They're just a kid, right? How strong could they really be?" As you shrug and turn to walk out, you feel a bit more confident. Yeah, they are just a kid, and a normal human kid couldn't have _that much_ power, right? If anything, maybe you would be amore to reason with them, find out what's really in their heart.

As you walk oit into the hall, your look at your keyblade and smiled. One way or another, this will end.

* * *

At end of the long hall was another elevator that seemed to only have one button. As you stand in the elevator, just listening to the hum as it carried you higher and higher, you feel your stomach growl. With a groan, you or your hand over your belly, hoping to make the feeling go away. It was starting to feel like it had been an eternity since you had anything to eat. You just imagine all the food you've seen but never could actually eat. The pie from Toriel, the burger and fries with Sans, the spaghetti from Papyrus, frozen or not, even that goo from Alphys' lab would probably make you feel better.

As your mind gets lost in the sea of food you never got to eat, the elevator stops. It opens up to another hall, but this one is much brighter. Even though everything seemed more monotonous here, it felt more welcoming here. As you walk along the wall, you see the other side open up to reveal a great city that stretched all the way to the opposite end of the cavern. It looked bigger than any city you'd ever been to.

"Whoa! That must be where all the monsters live," you said aloud to yourself, "It actually looks pretty nice down there."

You felt a tug at your wrist again as your keyblade stared to pull you down the hall again. You follow it, starting to run to keep up with it. As it pulls you down into another room, the atmosphere changes. You no longer feel welcomed, there's no longer a warm light coming in from the windows.

There was a sudden sensation of deja vu as you glanced around. Then, a whooshing sound flies past you and makes you jump behind a pillar.

"what the-?!" You looked at the far wall to see a large bone sticking out of the stone. You try to pull it out, but it stings you, making you recoil instantly.

"Well, look who's decided to join us at last?"

The voice you hear is not familiar. As you look up and step out from the pillar, you see two figures in the distance. As you step closer, you recognize them as Frisk and Sans, the latter of which looks none too pleased.

"What's going on here?" You ask as you stand facing them, looking at Frisk.

"This is the end of the game," Frisk says with a devilish smirk, "And I'm so glad you could join us for it."

As you watch the words come from their mouth, the knife dangling from their hand carelessly, you catch glimpse of Sans holding his towards them. In an instant, they are surrounded by bones that grab and impale them at every angle. You tried to look away, but your eyes were locked, horrified, disbelieving.

And then, they disappeared.

 _Sora! Did you see-?_

"Y-Yeah, I think I know what you mean." Suddenly, Sans appeared directly in front of you, making you jump back, "Sans!"

"Heya kid." His tone was fairly terse. He stood a foot away from you, one hand in his pocket, the other at his side, as if ready to attack.

You hold your hand up in front you and give a nervous laugh, "Guess I kinda caught you at a bad time?"

"That's real funny kid," you watched as his eye started to glow and his hand began to raise at his side. At the same time, you felt your chest tighten as your feet began to lift off the ground, "May be hard to believe, but I'm not exactly in a joking mood right now."

"W-Wait! S-Sans, I-!" As he raised you higher in the air, you could feel your panic rising. You failed your feet, uselessly hoping it would help you get back to the ground.

"How's the weather up there?" Sans asked "feeling the heat yet? "

"Sans wait, listen!"

"Oh? You want me to listen? Mighty _high order_ if you ask me."

"I know how to help now!" You plead with him, "I know how save you all!"

Sans paused, considering his options for a moment, "You've said that before. How do I know you're talking the truth this time?"

You shake your head and look down at him, "I know now what I didn't before! Just hear me out!"

Sans waits a moment again, watching you as you continue to flail about. Finally, he shrugs, "You get one chance, kid," he says as he sets you back down on the ground and shoves his hand back in his pocket.

You take a deep breath and sigh, relief washing over you, "Thanks, Sans."

"You can thank me later. I'll listen to you, on one condition."

"Condition?" You feel the apprehension building again.

"We talk later. Somewhere private," Sans steps forward and hands you a folded piece of paper, "When you wake up, leave the Ruins and find me. Don't let anyone see you and don't talk to Toriel."

You look at the paper and tilt your head, "Okay, but what's this?"

Sans winks at you, "The password. You tell that to me and I'll believe what you say. This way I know you spoke to me."

"Okay, that's confusing."

"See you on the other side, Sora."

Before you could ask anything else, or even react, everything went dark. Sans was gone in an instant and you watched as your SOUL broke down the middle. Through the darkness there was a voice calling out your name.

 _Come on, Sora! I thought you were better than that!_

* * *

There was a warmth on your face from the sun, though there was a lack of breeze. The air was stagnant and musty. The ground beneath was cold and hard, though there was a light scent in the air. Beneath that-

You quickly open your eyes and sit up straight with a had died, you could remember it so clearly. The dark hall, light shining through stained glass, Sans' smile as he stood in front of you, the bones. And yet here you were, back at the start.

"oh man... will this ever end?" You put your hand on your head and sigh. As you stood and brushed yourself off, you remembered what you have to do. With a smile you clench your fist and nod, "Right! Let's do this!" You run ahead through the dark cavern and into the Ruins.

As you make your way into the first bright area, you see a flash in the leaves. You slow down to a walk to try and get a better look, but it vanishes the closer you get. You fold your arms, "That's weird."

"Please slow down, my child. I'm not as young as I used to be."

You tense as you hear Toriel approaching the door above you. You recall the last time that Frisk had come with Toriel to find you. In a panic, you dove head first into the pile of leaves, hoping they completely covered you.

For a moment, it was quiet. As the leaves settled with your shallow breathing, you heard the doors open and footsteps walk down the stairs. As they got closer to you, you held your breath. Just inches from your head were feet crinkling in the leaves. They stood there for just a moment, before running off to join the other pair as they left the room.

It felt like an eternity before your lungs began to burn with the breath yoy still held. With a gasp, you jumped up from the leaves and looked around. The room was empty as it had been. If you hadn't heard them yourself, you might not have thought anyone had come through.

"No time to waste!" You quickly hopped up the stairs, two at a time, and made your way through the Ruins as quickly as you could. You didn't stop to rest until you stood outside of Toriel's house, out of breath. As you took a deep breath, you smiled and hurried down to the basement and to the door leading out into the snow.

To your surprise, you see that the door is slightly ajar. Of all the times you'd come here, you've never seen it open before you came to it. You shake your head and push the door open.

"Wow, you sure are early," Flower is in the center of the dark room, waiting, "In a hurry or something?"

You just nod and walk right past him, "Yup! No time to talk!"

As you leave the Ruins and walk out into the cold, you hear Flowey scoff and say, "Someone sure is determined."

The cold air hardly had enough time to chill your skin as you ran through the snow and across the bridge. Everything seemed to fly by a lot faster than you would have thought, even as you stand in the clearing. You feel as if you pressed fast forward, only now pausing to look around. Sans' station was in the corner as usual, but Sans himself was nowhere around. You turned around a few time, rubbing your head.

"Come on, Sans. Dont tell me to meet you and then not show up," you give a frustrated sigh.

Behind you, then, was a loud yawn, "Who'ssat?" As you turn back to the station, you see Sans stretching his arms as he stood behind it. He looks at you as he scratches his head and walks closer, "Heya, kid. I'm Sans, Sans the Skeleton. Just who might you be?"

You pause a second and remember what Sans in the last timeline had told you, the note he had given you. You grin and stand firmly.

" _I am the legendary fartmaster._ "


	10. Tired of Losing

**A/N Happy 10th chapter! I know I don't say much about this story, but I think it's better this way. Leaves more to any rate, I've decided to make this story weekly so that I don't finish it too quickly. I can't really say for sure how many more chapters there will be, but I still don't want to finish it, like, next week at this crazy pace I'm going lately. So, there will be an update sometime during the day every Wednesday starting last week! Thank you for reading! Now, back to the suspense.**

* * *

It was silent for a long moment, Sans' eyes turned black as he looked at you. You suddenly were unsure if this was the right choice. Had Sans tricked you? Did he send you to be killed again at his own hands? Did he really believe you were out to help Frisk kill everyone? If he didn't listen to what you had to tell him, how would you be able to save everyone?

Could they even be saved?

Your process of panic was broken by a sudden chuckle that burst from Sans. It makes you jump a little as you look at him. The white of his eyes watches you, but they aren't as suspicious as they had been in previous timelines.

"Wow," he says then, "that's... uh... really childish."

You blink in surprise. Was he serious? Had he really been playing you this entire time, "Huh? Isn't that your 'secret secret codeword' or something?"

Sans winks and shrugs "Why would you think that? I don't have a secret secret codeword. Whoever told you that is a dirty liar."

You slump your shoulders and sigh. This was all a trick. It was too good to be true.

"However," Sans went on, holding a finger up, "I do have a triple secret code word. Which you just said. So, I guess you're qualified."

There was a pause as he waited for you to answer. Once you managed to process what he said, you straightened up, "Wait. So... so that's it? I'm in?"

"Sure kid," Sans shrugged, "Now, you look as if you're burning to tell me something. Shall we go somewhere more secluded to talk?"

Before you can answer, Sans snaps his fingers and you're instantly somewhere new. it reminded you of Alphys' place, but it was much smaller and much neater. There was only a counter with a bunch of drawers and blueprints and a large curtain separating the room. You look at Sans, all these questions just brimming. But, one came to the surface, "Wait, you were serious? That wasn't sarcasm?"

Sans held a hand up as he leaned against the counter, "Hey now, sarcasm isn't funny. I really do have a triple secret codeword for special occasions. If I gave it to you, it was surely with good reason."

His words reminded you of what you had to say, what you needed to tell him. You sat your fist on your open palm and nodded, "Yeah! You know about the human, right? The other human?"

Sans nods, "Yeah. They've been resetting the timeline and causing a bit of trouble."

"There's something you should know about them," you fold your arms, "How can I explain this? You see, Frisk doesn't have a heart."

Now Sans seemed confused, his eye socket raises as if he raised an eyebrow, "What? How do they fight then?"

"Your SOUL is different from your heart. Something can have no heart and still have a SOUL, that much is clear. Frisk has to be what's called-"

"-a Nobody."

You nod, but then blink in surprise, "Huh? You know about them?"

Sans shrugs, winking at you, "Who knows? Maybe I've heard all of this before. You do have a tendency to repeat yourself." He joked.

You start to wonder, but then just put your hand on your face, "Sans, please," you sigh. Sans laughs and just waves for you to continue, "Frisk is a Nobody, yeah. But, if their Nobody is here, then that would mean that they have a Heartless here as well."

Sans narrows his eyes a little, "How can you be so sure it's down here?"

"Whatever enters the barrier can't leave, right? Frisk probably lost their heart down here, so their Nobody and their Heartless have got to be down here."

You hold a finger up as you remember something, "But that's not all. Frisk is being controlled by a different Heartless. That's why they've been causing so much trouble. On their own, a Nobody isn't much of a threat. Its only when they are corrupted that they become dangerous. At least that's how it seems anyway."

Sans stands up straight and holds his hands up to you , "Wait, hold on. So you're telling me that there is the possibility of there being two heartless down here?" He said. You nod and he goes on, "So, why isn't there more of them? Heartless are drawn together, aren't they?"

You fold your arms as you think about it, "I dunno come to think of it, they are drawn to the power of my keyblade," you hold your wrist up, looking at the key hanging, "Maybe the two heartless here don't know how to call others."

"Or maybe they're already here."

Just as Sans said that, the ground began to shake violently. You looked around, suddenly in a panic, "W-Whats going on?" You shout over the roaring of the earthquake.

Sans steadied himself against the counter. He looked around, more confused than you felt. He started to say something when another voice broke through, "Sans! Are you here?! The house is falling in!"

"Papyrus!" Sans looked up and yelled, "Get outside!" He bolted for the door faster than. Your ever seen him run. As you regained your own balance, you ran out after him.

Back outside, the town of Snowdin was covered with shadow heartless. They were everywhere, attacking the monsters in the town, and popping out from the shadows. As the ground finally stopped shaking, you saw Sans coming towards you with Papyrus leaning on him for support.

"I hate to say I told you so, kid," Sans said, "But, now's not the time to joke about how right I always am."

"Sans, what's going on? Who are these creatures?" Papyrus was rubbing his skull as he looked around.

Sans kept his gaze ahead, "Call Undyne. Tell her to meet us at Alphys' lab." He looks at you as Papyrus seems to struggle to dial his phone for a moment, "Sora," he pulled something from his pocket and tossed it to you, "Sorry for doubtin' ya. You got this, right?"

You caught what he gave you and blinked, looking at it. It was a keychain that looked a little like the robot on the sign and the fountain at MTT resort. It confuses you for a second, but when you look up to question Sans about it, he's already gone.

 _Sora, heartless, snap out of it!_ You look to your side and see Roxas pointing back towards the town still being ravaged by shadows.

"Oh man!" You turn around and step back to gather yourself. You grab your keyblade in your hand and look at it, "It's time to get serious! No more playing around!" You held the key up towards the ceiling, focusing your energy into it. As it starts to glow, you look at the keychain Sans gave you and smile, clipping it to your key. It quickly expands back to its original size. It was in the shape of a long and skinny skeleton key, with bones for the handle, and an upside down heart on the head. You grin and look ahead, "Alright, guess who's back in the game?" You laugh as you run ahead and start taking down the heartless.

Once you strike down two or three, they begin to realize who you are and surround you, twitching as they jump at you, trying to grab your keyblade. As you swing and take them down, it only seems to draw in more and more.

"Where the heck are they all coming from?!" You look around, starting to panic.

"What's wrong, Sora? In a bit over your head?"

The eerie voice pierces your ears. You remembered it from the previous timeline. The voice had come from Frisk, but, it definitely wasn't Frisk. The shadows on one side if you begin to separate and move to the side as a shadowy child stepped forward. It looked almost like Frisk, but there were some significant difference. Like the piercing red eyes to start.

"Where's Frisk?" You ask, pointing your keyblade at them. They stop walking and just smile ear to ear, "What have you done?"

"Frisk is no more. Thanks to the determination in their soul and the strength of their heart, I am now able to take over on my own," the shadow laughed, "You have no idea how amazing it feels to be whole once more."

You clench your fists around the handle and scowl at them, "You won't win, I won't let you!"

"On the contrary," they held a finger up with a devilish smile, "I've already beaten you time and time again. You are weak. Your SOUL power can not match my determination!"

The shadow stepped back, the heartless sinking back into the shadows, "We'll meet again. I promise. For now, it's still too crowded around here."

The shadow laughed as it disappeared, the heartless all vanishing with it. Once everything was quiet, you relaxed your grip and looked around. The few people left in town seemed to be alright, albeit a little injured. One of the bunnies already was tending to the wounds of the others, helping them all into the Inn. You frown and look down at your keyblade. It seemed like all the trouble that normally followed you finally caught up. Only it began so much tougher.

With a sigh, you turn and start to walk north of Snowdin, where you knew the River Person would be waiting. You needed a quick way to Hotland, and that was the best way to do it.

* * *

Hotland had become significantly darker since your last trip there. No longer could you see the top of the cave. The heat from the lava below, too, didn't seem as intense. With your keyblade hanging from your back, you kept your focus in the task at hand. You knew what to expect now, you just hoped the others would be willing to listen.

As the lab door slid open and you stepped inside, you were immediately greeting by yelling. Iy didn't sound like arguing so much as just frustration. One voice you recognize to be Undyne's.

"That punk thinks they can just come down here and attack us?! They got another thing coming!" She was pacing, still in her armor though the top and the helmet were sitting by the side.

"U-Undyne, please," Alphys held her hands up where she stood, following Undyne as she packed in front of her, "W-We don't kn-know what were e-even up against."

"I'll tell you what we're up against," a robotic sounding voice came from a box next to Alphys. It had arms coming out of the side that seems free moving as it punched it's own palm, "A dirty little cheater! This human doesn't want to play by the rules."

"H-How can you be so sure, Mettaton?"

"How can you not, darling?"

"It's nothing like that, guys," you heard Sans as he came into the room with them. His expression was more serious than it had been, "And it's not something we can take in our own."

"Sans, how's Papyrus?" Undyne stepped towards him, looking more concerned than she let on.

Sans just nodded once, "He's alright, just a little out of it." He notices you standing there and nods towards you, "Sora. How did it go?"

As you step more into the room, everyone turns to face you. They seem skeptical at first, but you paid it no mind. It was pretty plain to see why they'd think that way.

"Is this the kid you told us about, Sans?" Undyne asked, "Sure doesn't look like much."

"Trust me," Sans said, patting her shoulder as he walked by her over to you. He leaned his arm on your shoulder, "Sora knows exactly what's going on."

Mettaton moves closer to you, the lights flashing exclamation points on his screen, "Well, don't leave us in suspense, darling!"

You look at Sans again and he gives you a thumbs up, letting you stand on your own. You smile and nod, "Here's the plan guys. If we're going to get through this, you need to do exactly as I say, okay?"

Undyne and Alphys exchange a look, then look back at you, "O-Okay, we'll listen."


	11. What's a star?

_Frisk walked all alone down the road out of Snowdin. The town was in shambles behind them, nothing but dust settling on top of the snow. If anyone was still alive, they were keeping themselves hidden very well. But, the human made sure no one survived._

 _"He's betrayed you..." a whisper in Frisks ear made them frown, "He agreed to help you go free, but then turned on you."_

 _Why would he do that? Frisk wondered. He was so willing to help. I thought he wanted to go home._

 _"Sora must pay. They all will pay," the shadow walked beside Frisk, it's sly smile stretching far across its face than humanly possible, "Let the Underground suffer. When we find the heart of this world, there will be no stopping us."_

 _Frisk stopped walking for a moment as the fog became thick and palpable. They couldn't see the hand in front of their faces. And yet, somewhere just ahead, there was a figure standing, a bony silhouette clear as day._

 _"Human, I have something to say."_

* * *

"What's a star?"

You had been waiting in one of the caverns in Waterfall, staring up at the shiny rocks in the ceiling, when a little monster approached you. It was completely round with just two eyes on top. You blink and look up at it from where you sat, "Huh?"

The little monster looked up at the ceiling, "They say humans make wishes in stars. But what is a star? Can you touch it? Can you eat it? Can you kill it?" As you watched it, the monster turned and stared at you dead on, "...Are you a star?"

An uncomfortable chill ran down your spine then as you jumped up to your feet "Uh, I just remembered I have somewhere to be. Um, bye." You grabbed your keyblade from where it had been leaning against the wall and ran off down the hallway.

Ever since you fought the heartless, your keyblade remained at its original size. Holding onto it like this put into perspective what you were really here for, and definitely helped you keep your focus. If the heartless were lurking around corners, you were willing, as you always have been, to do whatever it took to keep the people here safe. Monster or not.

You slowed to a stop when you reached the next room. You look around as you try to catch your breath. The room was empty except for a hole in the wall and a table with some sort of pink crystal on top of it. Upon further inspection, you realize it's some sort of crystalized hunk of cheese.

You crouch down to the hole in the wall and try to look inside, "Anyone home?" You smile, hearing little squeaks inside, "Sorry, I won't bother you."

You brush off your knees as you stand back up and strap your keyblade to your back. As you turn back to the room, you catch glimpse of a flash on the other side of the room. It was the same as in the Ruins, only there for a second. You step closer and inspect the corner, checking every little rock and brushing dirt to the side. After a few minutes, you sigh and step back.

 _You must be seeing things, Sora,_ you hear Roxas' voice as you turn away.

"I think I'm starting to go crazy down here." You fold your arms and continue down the hall again.

Roxas laughed a little, _Well, yeah. You're walking alone in the dark talking to yourself._

You hold a finger up to argue with him, but just sigh and put it back down. Even if he had his own body again, he's still right. _T_ _echnically_ he is a part of you. Regardless of how much of his own personality he seems to have.

You froze as you walked ahead, staring ahead of you. You could hear a rustling sound from the tall grass ahead of you. Glancing over to the side, you caught sight of Undyne glaring into the grass.

"Here we go," you mumble as you look around. There was a small dock going off into a section of the river. You quickly, and quietly, hopped down into the water and hid under the pier. It was quiet for a while, the footsteps and the rustling coming to a stop. You held your breath as the steps came closer.

There was another sound then. It was a louder sort of rustling that sounded like slicing through the grass, followed by little puffs of air here and there. There were also sounds like growls and soft squeals. You close your eyes, trying to block the sound out as you dip your head further into the water. The muffled sounds begin to fade after a few minutes, but you kept yourself still, breathing quietly as you raised your head enough to hear.

There were footsteps walking away from you. Once they were gone it was completely silent. You waited an extra minute before climbing back out if the water and looking around.

"Man that was close," you whisper to yourself. All around you were blades of grass that had been cut off and covered in dust. You clench your fist, trying not to linger on the sight of the dust, "Looks like the rampage has already begun."

With a sigh, you shake your head and run off ahead, back towards Snowdin. Things were getting out of hand very quickly, but there was one thing to be sure of.

* * *

With Snowdin in sight, you kept your eyes forward. There was no time to linger and wait around if the plan was going to work. You trusted the others would do what they needed to stall for time until you got there. The town was completely quiet, so much so that it made you very hyper aware of the fact that you are in a cave and there is no breeze. The buildings looked deserted and run down, as if something came through and broke down the doors and all the windows.

As you reach the Snowdin sign, you look over the cliff side. It was dark the further out it went, but you were sure you could see the end wall where the Ruins began.

"Toriel..." you frown, "I... don't think I need to go down there to know for sure."

 _If this plan doesn't work,_ Roxas chimed in, looking over the cliff side with you, _Do you think there will be any hope for this world?_

"I don't think it will matter," you look to the side at him, "If it doesn't work, were stuck here anyway."

Roxas just sighs and disappears again as you turn and hurry back towards the north side of town. Each step you took stirred up a different pile of dust, mixing it with the snow and dirt. You kept your gaze ahead of you, clenching your fists to keep from looking back.

As you reached the edge of town, you could see the little boat on the river. You smiled a little, relaxing a bit, "Hey! River Person!" You call out to them.

A figure stepped into sight from beside the boat as you got close, "Tra la la la, yes, I am the river person. Would you care for a ride?"

You nod and climb into the boat, "Can you take me to Waterfall?"

"Sure. Here we go!"

The boat rode off down the river at a pretty quick pace. You sat back with a sigh, looking up at the ceiling moving by. At that moment, there was a ding in your pocket. Alphys had given you a phone so you could keep in contact with the others. As you pulled it out, you saw a message came through from Alphys. It read simply "Phase two nearly complete."

You snap the phone closed again and put it back into your pocket. You look up at the River Person as they speak, "Tra la la la, the angel... is coming..."

You blink, unable to make some sort of response as the boat comes to a stop in a dark room. As you climb out, you glance back at them, "Uh, thanks." You say.

"Come again, tra la la la." You watch as the boat continues down the river.y you shake your head and hurry out of the room.

Waterfall, as a whole, seems to be the darkest area of the Underground. Even though the cold area around Snowdin seemed to have less of those crystals in the ceiling, the ones here just seem to give off a more gentle glow. You smile a little, it makes you think of home, or the stars in the night sky. All the nights that you sat beneath the stars with your friends as you planned to get out and see the world outside your own, being here now really put it into perspective.

"I wonder how long I've been gone," you say aloud aa you walk ahead absently, "Riku and Kaito are probably busy with their missions. Yen Sid probably knows I'm here. Hes gonna be so mad."

You laugh a little and feel Roxas' beside you, chiming in, _How can you tell how much time has passed when things keep resetting here?_

You tilt your head at him and shrug, "That's a good point. Hey! With any luck, maybe we'll be back bbeforewe even left.

 _I don't think that's really how it works._

You shrug with a smile and look ahead. Suddenly, the ground began to shake again. You tense and stand firm as you pull your keyblade off your back and look around. As the shaking subsided, there was a loud boom, followed by various crashing sounds. Down a side path, you could see an orangey glow that flickered against the walls as it grew. You keep yourself against the wall as you sneak closer to the edge. You peek around and clench your teeth at the sight.

A group of large heartless were dancing around a flaming pile of what looked like it might have been a house. They fueled the fire as they jumped up and tossed in more of what they carried. At the center of the group, you could see the shadow controlling Frisk. There was no evidence that that person used to be Frisk, now they are just a dark and empty being, smiling at the flames as they threw in one last piece of something.

"That's that. On to the Core next. Let's go." The heartless as disappeared into the ground as the shadow Frisk walked to the side down a separate path. You watch carefully until they disappear around a corner before approaching the burning building.

Sitting in front of the house was Undyne's helmet, a gooey dusty substance dripping out if it. You turn away from it, taking your phone out again and dialed the number. There is no time to lose.

"Alphys, keep yourself and the other monsters hidden. They're headed past you to the Core."


	12. What's black and white and red all over?

Everything was quiet. When you had to cross Hotland in the timeline before, there was at least the buzz of a few monsters talking amongst themselves. But now, there was just silence. Even the heat didn't bother you as much. You knew what you had to do, there was no time to stop, no rime to waste anymore. This was a long time coming, you just hadn't noticed it until now.

MTT Resort was as silent as the rest of the underground. The broken fountain even looked more solemn than it had. You take the opportunity to look around, a chance Frisk didn't give you before. Next to the doorway that led to the Core, there's a little shop, almost like a fast food place. You can see someone inside behind the counter, looking out past you. Curious, you walk in.

"Welcome to MTT-Brand Emporium, home of the Glamburgers," the guy behind the counter gives an uneasy smile, "Sparkle up your day (TM)!"

The inside of the shop was filled with pictures of odd looking food as well as pictures of Mettaton. The menu behind the cashier even featured a steak in the shape of Mettaton. You started to wonder what kind of Monster Mettaton really was.

"Uh, what exactly is a Glamburger?" You ask him.

He stiffens for a moment, shaking a little, "It's..." you can see the lines going through his mind, he's considering what he wants to say before he says it. After a long minute, he finally slumps his shoulders and sighs, "A poor life decision sandwiched between life and regret. Sprinkled with a bit of impending doom! Can I get you one, little buddy?"

You blink, not even sure how to completely answer him. As you try to think of a response, your stomach growls loudly and you give a smile, "That sounds...interesting. But, I'll take one. I haven't eaten anything all day, anyway."

" _Oh wonderful!_ " he said in a very condescending tone, "That'll be 120g, please!"

As you hand him the money, he grabs a little box from behind the counter and sets it in front of you. The box is shaped like Mettaton and covered in glitter. It even had little arms on either side made of cardboard. As you open it, you glance up at the employee. He's watching you, but he seems less anxious now. He even had a lit cigarette hanging from his mouth.

The Glamburger(TM) looked less like food and more like it belonged on a shelf for display. The bun was so shiny and glittery, even covered in sequins. The burger itself was an odd color, brownish with an unnatural hint of green. It had no scent, either, except for a strong undertone of glue. The whole thing made your stomach turn.

"Uh, so how come you're still here?" You ask the employee as you dissect the food in front of you, "This place is pretty empty, seems everyone has run off somewhere."

"That's because everyone is dead," he said. You look up at him, trying to look more surprised than you felt, "yeah, most people have gone into hiding, and yeah, Mettaton told me I didn't _technically_ have to come in for my shift. But that's the thing, sometimes he doesn't call me in until my shift is almost over!"

"Oh man," You rub your head, feeling kind of bad for the guy, "So then, why stay here?"

He takes the cigarette from his mouth and waves his hand around, "I thought maybe I could do my part here to slow that little weirdo down. They were just in here not that long ago, but all they did was buy some food and get their gross dust all over everything."

You straighten up, "Wait, they've already been through here? How long ago?"

The MTT employee shrugs, "I dunno, about 10 minutes before you came in."

You jump up and head for the door, "Oh man, I'm late! Thanks burger guy!"

"Take 'em out, little buddy!" You hear him call to you.

You run out into the hall and to the Core as quickly as you could. You got distracted, there was no excuse for it. You took your phone out as you ran into the elevator and pressed the button. There was one message to you.

"You're next."

* * *

By the time you made it to the top, the fight had long since ended. Mettaton was nowhere to be seen and the rooms were quiet. You had to run as quickly as you could to get to the next fight. Back in Asgore's home, you slowed down to catch your breath. You were very aware of the stagnant air in the underground as it seemed harder to breathe after running for so long. Despite it all, you descend the stairs and walk through that long hallway once again.

"Howdy!"

The stop as you hear the voice in front of you and just look down, "Flowey?"

Flowey just grinned, "You can't stop them, you know," he said, "No one can now, hee hee hee!"

You shake your head and walk around him, trying to keep your focus, but he just follows you.

"You want to think you're determined enough," he points out, "But you're not. You will never be determined enough to beat Chara."

You raise an eyebrow and look at him, "Chara? Is that their name?"

Flowey gave a weird look and just moved to the other side of you, "Give it up Chara came back when I called them so we could rule this world. Just look at everything we've done!" He laughed and moved ahead of you, a sinister look on his face, "There's only the king left. And then you."

You brush past him and start to run, "They'll never make it past, Sans!" You yell back at him.

As you step into the next hall, the stained glass windows lining one wall all the way down. The light shining in was warm, familiar. It was empty, not a sound could be heard but your own footsteps as you walked slowly past each pillar.

"Heya...kid..."

You jumped a little at the sudden voice, even though it was kind of hushed. Looking to the side, you see Sans leaning against one of the pillars beside you. His shirt was sliced open and red, a couple broken ketchup bottles on the ground at his feet.

"Sans! What-?" You take a step closer to him, but he raises his hand to stop you.

"Sora... if you...can stop them," he says, stepping away from the pillar, "Don't...hesitate..." he looks at you, his eye glowing again. He's sweating badly, as if the exertion of just walking is too much for him.

You frown, but clench your fists and nod, "This will end, Sans. I promise."

Sans gives a laugh and winks at you, "I'm...rootin' for ya... kid... welp, I'll be at Grillby's." He turns and starts to walk out of the hall, holding his chest. He looks up and to the side as he shuffles closer to the door, "Papyrus... do you want anything?"

Then, he turns to dust and is gone. You stare for a moment, a tightness in your chest building. All you could do was watch as the dust settled in a pile on the ground. Everyhing he had been, gone in an instant. If this plan didn't work...

"No, it will work." You turn away and grab your keyblade from your back, holding it tight as you walk down the hall, "No more 'if's. This is what we have to do."

The throne room was just as well lit as the last hall was, sunlight shining down through a window in the ceiling. In the beams of the light, there were flowers growing, so many of them, like little yellow buttercups. Just beyond the flowers was the throne, a big and comfy looking chair. You stopped at the edge if the flowerbed.

Sitting in the throne, was Frisk.

You held your keyblade up and pointed it at them, but they didn't move. After a moment, you blinked and lowered it a bit, "Frisk?" Still they didn't move. You moved closer across the field of flowers and crouched in front of the throne, looking in their face. You could see their chest moving slowly with their breathing, but nothing else, "Frisk? Can you hear me?"

"It's no use trying," a voice came from behind the throne. You step back, holding your keyblade tight as a figure walks out from behind it, "It must really hurt to lose your heart twice in one lifetime."

Chara stood beside the throne, no longer completely covered in shadows. Their green and yellow striped shirt was as clear as their bright red eyes and wide smile.

"You..." you shook your head and pointed your keyblade at them, "I get it now, you were helping Frisk get back their heart just so you could take it for yourself!"

Chara smiled and shrugged, "This world is mine to do with as I please. And now that I have enough power, all the humans on the surface will learn what true pain is. Of course..." they stepped closer to you, eyes locked on your keyblade "I could never have done this without your help."

You glare at them and swing the keyblade down to the side, "As if I would ever help you!"

"You're right," Chara shrugged, sitting in the arm of the throne, "You're too good, you would never be willing to help me, oh no, not the mighty keyblade warrior," they leaned back with a smirked and patted Frisk's head, "But Frisk here is your friend. And you'll do anything for your friends, right? Like... opening a door you know you shouldn't?"

You stand firm, shaking your head, "I don't know what you-"

"Oh I think you do," Chara stood and faced you, "You opened this world up, you made it vulnerable to heartless. And now, I'm going to destroy it."


	13. Genocide End

_The birds sing a sad song of freedom as the flowers bloomed in the sunlight. Nothing remained in this space as the shadow clashed with the light. Monsters appeared from any shadows they could, under the window, under the throne, even under the flowers themselves. The ground shook beneath them, each fighting their hardest for what they wanted._

 _One trying hard to save this world._

 _One trying hard to destroy it._

 _From the doorway, Flowey peeked his head in. All the tension he had seen between Sora and Chara finally led to this point. Frisk had tried to avoid this, Flowey could tell that, but nothing could have stopped this. This was the destiny of the world. Flowey just watched with curiosity. How would this end? Who would truly be the winner?_

 _"Flowey!"_

 _Flowey blinked and looked around, "Hello?" He called out, moving out into the hall more. "Who's there?" He looked to the left towards a doorway, then to the right towards the wau back to the Judgement Hall. As he did, there was a shadow quickly disappear around the corner, "Hey!"_

 _He chased after it, not stopping until he was almost out of the hall. He sighed, "What am I doing? There's nobody here anymore." He shook his head and heeded back up the hall._

 _"Flowey!"_

 _Flowey stopped and turned back. The voice was unfamiliar, but he knew it. Somehow it was a voice he knew well, better than any other unfamiliar voice, "...Frisk?"_

 _There was no response from the darkness. It was just quiet. Hesitant, he turned back to return to the throne room again._

 _"Save him."_

 _Before Flowey could get far, he came onto a single piece of pie , still warm, just waiting. He narrowed his eyes, looking around, "Save him? Why? What's he done for me?" He asked the voice. When he got no more response, he sighed and lifted the pie up onto his head, "You are such an idiot." He mumbled as he carried the pie back with him._

* * *

You were exhausted, having trouble catching your breath. Chara stood back as the army of heartless around her surrounded you. You take a step back. Maybe making a run for it is your best option. But as you got to take anither step, you feel one of the heartless throw it's arms around you and hold you tight. Its all you can do to hold onto your keyblade.

Chara laughs, "What's the matter? Giving up already?" They scoff and step closer to you, "Even Sans put up more of a fight than this."

You are trying not to listen to them as you focus on trying to free yourself from the heartless. You turn your head a bit and look back at it. It's nothing more than a shadow, nothing special. With the right pressure, you could drive your keyblade right through it and drive back to the dark.

"It is a shame to see that none of them created any Nobody's. But, the shadows are just as strong."

You tense and look at Chara again. It had taken you this long to realize. Of course! All these heartless... they came from the fallen monsters!

"Oh? Did that surprise you?" Chara laughed, "Surely even you noticed there were no heartless here when you first arrived. There couldn't be, this world resets constantly. But, when you opened the door, it changed everything."

You look down hiding your face. You came here to help, but you only made things worse. Sans was right, everyone was. You really were helping them the whole time.

Chara stood in front of you and just shrugged, "This isn't as glorious as I pictured, but, it is what it is. Now, if you would just stay dead this time, this will all be over soon." As they moved closer, you could see them reaching for your keyblade. It was all over, the plan had really failed after all. You could only pray for a reset now. What you wouldn't give for a piece of Toriel's homemade pie. It made you smile to think of it. The mixture of butterscotch and cinnamon gave off a much stronger smell than you could have imagined. In fact, it was as if you could really smell it.

Like it was right beside you, waiting for you.

"Chara! Sora!"

You look up a little to see that the smell was in fact beside you, and on top of Flowey's head. He looked more than a little frustrated, but something told you that that pie was probably heavier than it looked to him.

"Flowey, what the hell are you doing?" Chara sighed and turned to face him, stepping closer.

Flowey just smirked "I'm bringing the pie you never ate. So what?"

You watch as Chara had their back completely to you. You start to shift yourself to prepare for an attack without alarming Chara or the heartless holding you.

"If I wanted the stupid pie, I would have brought it," Chara was getting more and more visibly annoyed, "Anyway, how did you even get it here?"

Flowey sighed, "Does that really matter? Just take the damn pie!"

Chara glared at him "Oh, okay, I'll take the pie." They gave an evil smirk as they slowly took the pie off of his head, "Thank you Flowey. And good night!" They lifted the pie up and slammed it quickly down on Flowey's head over and over, Flowey too surprised to fight back.

You quickly take the opportunity to strike the heartless down holding you and drive your keyblade directly through Chara. Chara stops, dropping the plate next to Flowey, it shattering over the mushed pie, "This ends. Now!" You turn the key, a locking sound emitting and a single heart flying out as Chara disappears completely.

With a sigh, you smile and watch as the heart floats over to where Frisk sleeps and disappears inside of them. You turn back to Flowey who just hangs simply over himself and kneel in front of him, "Flowey, thank you."

He doesn't answer you, he just shifts away.

You get down to the ground to look up into his face and smile "If it wasn't for you I wouldn't have gotten to opportunity to stop them."

Flowey meets your gaze for a second and just turns away from you .

You lean back on your knees and tilt you head "Are you okay, Flowey? They really did a number on you."

Flowey raised his head a little, but still faced away, "You should have just let them kill me."

You blink at his bold statement, "What? Why?"

Flowey glances at you through one of his petals before he sighs and disappears into the ground.

"Hey, wait!" You call after him. After a moment you just stand and sigh, "Oh well."

"Sora..."

You look over to the throne and see Frisk rubbing their eyes, just looking around confused. You walk over and smile, "Frisk, can you remember anything?"

Frisk shook their head, "I... I remember Snowdin. A voice was telling me to make them suffer. But then, nothing."

You look down, "So... you can remember what happened in the Ruins?"

Frisk frowned, "It's all a blur. Did I spare them? Did I kill them all?" They put their hands on their face, "I can't... I can't remember for sure."

You look at them again as you strap your keyblade to your back, "You don't have to worry about that voice anymore, I promise." You smile at them as they lower their hands, "I promise, things will be better."

Frisk meets your gaze, truly believing your words. They stand and nod, "If I reset one last time... will things be better?"

You nod and hold your fists up, "Yeah! I know together we can set everyone free. If you reset, we can do this the right way!"

Frisk nods, excited "Okay!" They hold their hand to the side as the room goes completely black and a white set of text boxes appears. You see a bunch of information that you don't quite understand, but manage to pick out "Chara" and "Lvl 20." Beneath it are a couple boxes that read "Continue" and "True Reset." Frisk hesitates over the rest button, then turns to you, "Sora?"

You blink, pulling yourself away from the information in front of you to look at them, "Yeah?"

Frisk just frowns, "I know... I know my heart is a lie. I lost my heart when I fell down here," they put one hand on their chest and looked down, "I don't really know when the whispers started, but, I know I don't want to hurt anyone anymore. If I reset... will I truly be able to do the right thing?"

You frown, they were definitely struggling with this decision. _Sora,_ you feel Roxas as he forms himself beside you and Frisk in your mind, _If they don't reset, will they just fade away into the dark? Is this world just destined to fall like that?_

"No, I won't let that happen!" You say suddenly, making Frisk jump. You look at them and smile, "Frisk, let me take your place. I'll go through the new timeline and free everyone."

Frisk looks surprised "Huh? Is that even possible?"

You shrug, "I dunno. But, if you really think you don't have a heart, than you can share mine," you put your hand on your chest, "I don't mind, there's plenty of space in there, I think."

Frisk shook their head, "What if that voice comes back and takes you over next?"

You shake your head and gesture to your keyblade, "Ain't no way that heartless will be getting inside my head. Not while I have this keyblade."

Frisk thought for a long moment, then nodded, "Okay." They smile at you, "I'll take you up on it. But. When everyone is free, I'll go back to being my own being. I can't live off of you forever."

You smile and shrug, "It's up to you, really. But, I promise I will do this right. And hey! You can help me when I need it. I'm sure there's plenty of things down here I still haven't seen."

Frisk giggled a little and nodded, "You're in for a ride." They just smile at you and nod finally. They hold their hand out, "Take me hand. When you wake up again, no one will remember a thing, but you have to play along like you don't know them. Okay?"

As you take their hand, you nod, "Alright. I can do that. Im pretty good at playing dumb." Frisk just smiles at you and you both look ahead as they select "True Reset."

A light flashes for a moment, before everything goes dark once again.


	14. The one thing you aren't supposed to do

**A/N: _Ohohoho_ are you guys ready? This ain't the end yet. We're just getting started. Just a heads up, some of the rooms might not quite line up with the game, but it just flows better, I promise.**

* * *

Silence was ringing in your ears, bringing you to your senses. With your eyes still closed, you could feel the light on your face. It was warm and welcoming. Slowly, as you open your eyes, you can see it shining down from the mouth of the cavern. The pillars reaching the ceiling around the room seemed further away. It looked almost as if they were trying to escape, but to no avail.

You sit up slowly, the ringing in your head dying down to just a headache. Wherever you fell from, you knew it was definitely far.

You start to stand when you notice the bed of flowers all around you. They were all little yellow flowers, growing in the sunlight. You smile as you start to remember something. This was your second chance, a new shot at redemption. That thought made you look up quickly.

"Frisk? Are you there?" You say out loud, looking around for them. There was no physical evidence of them.

 _I'm here, Sora._

But you could definitely feel them there. They appeared beside you, smiling a little in their ethereal form. Roxas stepped out beside them, his arms folded, _Don't forget me._ he just smiles.

You laugh a little and grin at him, "Of course not. You're always with me." You step forward past them, looking all around the room. You remember it from the beginning of every timeline, the room where you fell. You turn back and look at them, "So, is it over now?"

Frisk tilted their head, _I don't think it's exactly over yet,_ Roxas pointed out, _After all, Chara may be gone, but we still have to get everyone out of the underground, right?_ he looks at Frisk.

Frisk smiles at him and nods, _Right. You have to keep your promise, Sora. You have to find true freedom for the monsters._

"Right, I remember. But... how do I do that exactly?"

 _You have to break the barrier._

"That sounds easy enough."

 _How can we break the barrier?_ Roxas asked.

Frisk looks at him, then at you, and sighs, _It takes the power of 7 human souls to break the barrier. Which, is the same as what you say are hearts._

"That explains why there weren't any heartless here before," you say, folding your arms, "They can't cross the barrier on their own."

 _But the if the heart of a monster fused with you, you could cross the barrier,_ Frisk said, _It might not be a good idea to kill any of the monsters... you see what happened last time._

"Right. If we don't kill any monsters than there won't be any heartless here," you tilted your head, "But... then how are we supposed to break the barrier? We've only got... well, one heart between us."

 _Asgore! King Asgore has 6 hearts, and he waits for the 7th to come so he can free the monsters and start a war on the humans._

"Huh?" You are surprised by this information "The king has 6 hearts? How is he keeping them safe?"

Frisk looked confused, _I guess his castle is safe enough. Plus, he hides them someplace only he can access._

You fold your arms, "With those hearts... we can free everyone."

 _One step at a time,_ Frisk smiles at you, _For now, we need to get through the Ruins. I'll help you stay on path. I will keep my mind, but my determination is yours._

"Alright! Let's go then." You smile as you turn from them and hurry out of the room. As you were met by the darkness, you heard Frisk give one last piece of advice.

 _Remember, Sora, no matter what, you must stay determined. It's all up to you now._

* * *

"Howdy!"

As you enter into the next room, you see Flowey waiting for you, his usual fake grin on his face. He seemed to wait for something, glancing behind you a couple times. You look back to see what he was looking at, but don't see anything but a glimpse of light over the yellow flowers.

"Uh?" You look at Flowey again, but his expression has changed. Now he just looks bored.

"Oh, I see you're alone then." He says with a sigh, "Whatever, I already know how this will go. So just get out of here."

You tilt your head "What are you talking about?" You ask him, "Who are you?"

Flowey looked surprised. For a moment, he seemed at a complete loss for words, until you burst out laughing from the tension. Then, he just looked annoyed, "Oh, haha, very funny."

You grin as you calm your own laughing, "You should have seen your face, Flowey!" You start to laugh again.

Flowey just gives you a dirty look. Before he says anything, he just smiles his phone smile again, "Yes, that was a good one. You really got me!" He laughed a little too, "Come closer, there's something I need to tell you. It's important to your run here."

You tilt your head as you crouch down to him.

"No no, closer, closer. It's a secret."

You hesitate, but lean closer so you are just barely an inch from his face. You turn your head a little bit to listen to what he has to say.

"Down here, it's KILL OR BE KILLED! HAHAHA!"

He laughs as everything goes black and you see your heart, you SOUL, floating in front of you, surrounded by Floweys little white bullets. It's different than it had been the last you had seen it. Now, the heart was bright red.

"Well well, look who finally has the right amount of determination." Flowey said, "But, it's still not enough. Your borrowed power won't win you any fights down here! You still don't have what it takes to survive!"

As he speaks, you watch as the pellets move closer and closer to your heart. You look for any way to escape, but as he closes in you can feel the tension start to pull at you there was nowhere to go, nowhere to run.

Then, the pellets were gone. Flowey looked confused for just a second before a fireball flew from the doorway and knock him over. Glaring at the one who cast it, he retreated back into the ground and was gone. You give a sigh of relief as she comes closer to you.

"What a terrible creature, torturing such a poor, innocent youth...Ah, do not be afraid, my child. Toriel smiles at you as she brushes her hands off on her dress, "I am Toriel, caretaker of the Ruins."

You smile at her as the black fades back to the darkness of the Underground. You step closer to her and look up at her, "Hi Toriel, I'm Sora."

Toriel smiles at you, chuckling a bit to herself, "Well, it's nice to meet you Sora. Come, I will guide you through the catacombs." She smiles as she turns and walks ahead into the next room.

You glance back over your shoulder as you leave and see Flowey pop back up for a second. He narrows his eyes at you before disappearing back into the ground.

* * *

"The Ruins are filled with all kinds of puzzles, please adjust yourself to the sight of them." Toriel smiled as she walked up the stairs in the next room and opened the door. She glanced back as you followed and just proceeded ahead.

You paused at the bottom of the stairs as you stare into the pile of leaves. Just above them is something sparkling, a sort of star floating there. It seemed to have a strange power to it. One that drew you closer. As you reached out to touch it, you felt the surge of power run through you.

"Whoa! What is that?" You say out loud.

 _The shadow of the Ruins looms above, filling you with determination._

You look to the side at Frisk, "What? What is this thing?"

 _Its a save point,_ Frisk said with a smile, _It is made of determination. And now that you have it, you can use them too. So now, if you lose a battle, you'll end up at the last save point you reached._

You smile and look at the save point, "Whoa! That's pretty cool."

"Is everything alright, my child?" You hear Toriel call to you.

With a smile you hurry up the stairs, "Sorry! I'm coming."

Toriel smiles at you as she leads you through the first few rooms of the Ruins. She taught you how the puzzles worked and even showed you how to solve them. Even though she did all of the work, she still seemed proud of you.

As you turned the corner into a big hall, a Froggit jumps from your peripheral and engages you in a fight. Everything goes dark as the Froggit hops a bit closer.

"Whoa! Easy now!" You hold your hands up, "Uh, hi?" Froggit just seems to eye you carefully.

 _Thats a Froggit,_ Frisk tells you, _Its Attack and Defense are 4. Life is difficult for this enemy._

You tilt your head , "Difficult?" You smile, "Well, you are still trying. I'm proud of you, Froggit! Life will get better."

Froggit stares at you as you speak. After a moment, it just blushes deep and looks to the side. _I don't think it understands,_ Roxas says with a snicker.

 _But it seems flattered anyway!_

Before the Froggit could do anything else, Toriel appears beside it and gives it a stern look. Froggit shivers in fear and hops away, ending the fight. You cover your mouth to keep from laughing out loud. The monsters were definitely afraid of Toriel. And she very clearly has a powerful presence here.

"There is one last thing I must ask you to do," she said as she stood before you in a long hallway, "I am sorry for this, but I must ask you to walk down this hall by yourself." She quickly turned and disappeared down the hall.

You blink as you watch her go and hurry to catch up with her. As she disappears, you continue ahead, wondering just how long the hall really is. In the past time lines, you couldn't remember it feeling this long. There was also a strange sensation of panic that was starting to come from nowhere. Had Toriel left you? Would she just pop up again somewhere.

Just as you started to wonder, she stepped out from behind a pillar at the end of the hall and smiled, "Greetings, my child. Do not fear, I did not leave you. I was simply behind this pillar the whole time."

You give a sigh of relief. There were a lot of things that seemed to be playing out differently for you now. Maybe it was because you were going through the timeline instead of seeing everything second.

"There is a reason for this exercise," Toriel started again, "To test your independence. See... I'm going to have to leave you alone for a while."

You tilt your head, "Huh? How come?"

Toriel just smiles, "It's a surprise. Here, I will give you this cell phone so that you may call me if you like." She hands you an old looking cell phone, older than the phone you had previously. It flips open and seems to be able to dial and not much else, "Just stay here and I shall return for you."

You look up and nod in agreement as she pats your head and turns to the doorway, walking out. As the quiet sets in the room around you, you sigh and lean against the pillar.

"This phone can't even text, what is this?" You wonder as you push buttons on it. Only one number is registered in it, but there was no name next to it. Curious, you dial the number and put the phone to your ear.

"Hello, this is Toriel."

You blink and smile, not sure why it surprised you, "Oh, hi Toriel!"

"Did you just call to say hello? Well... hello!" She laughs a little, "It is good to hear your voice, my child."

You smile, "Hey you two. Oh, um, I guess you must be busy. Sorry, mom." As the last bit left your mouth, you realized you probably should not have said it. But it was too late to take it back.

"Oh? Well! Would that make you happy? To call me... mother?" She laughs a little again, "Very well then, my child. I will see you soon."

You smile, "Bye mom." As the phone clicks quiet, you look at the screen again. With a smile, you edit the contact and change the name to "Mom."


	15. Battles in the Ruins

You pace the floor a couple times before deciding she wasn't coming back any time soon. You peek out the doorway, but don't see anything but a Froggit and a whole lot of leaves. Your keyblade still strapped to your back, you step out of the room and start to walk.

As you do, your phone rings. It scares you for a moment before you pull it out and answer it, trying not to sound as nervous as you felt, "Uh, hello?"

"Hello, this is Toriel," you hear her say "You have not left that room have you? There are a few puzzles up ahead that I have not explained and it would be dangerous to try to solve them on your own ."

"Uh," you freeze up. What do you say to her? What can you say? Just staying put certainly wasn't an option. An yet, disobeying felt wrong too. But, you figure maybe Toriel would understand, "No?"

"Okay, be good now, my child." You can hear the smile in her voice as she hangs up.

You let out a sigh as you put your phone away and shake your head, "That was close. It was almost like she knew or something." You look up and realize you had wandered aimlessly into another room. Ahead was a large bowl on a pedestal. Curious, you step closer. A little sign reads "Monster Candy! Take only one."

You smile as you reach in and grab a piece of candy, putting it in your pocket and walk back out of the room. As you step out of the doorway, the Froggit standing nearby hopped closer and croaked at you. You jump back a little as it surprised you.

"Whoa! Hi little guy." You say as you lean over a little. The Froggit looked up at you.

"Ribbit, ribbit." it says, literally.

You tilt your head, "Uh. Yeah, gotcha." you nod like you understand it and the Froggit hops away. With a shrug you turn and walk down the path.

* * *

 _Playfully crinkling through the leaves fills you with determination._

As you pass the save point in the leaves, you smile to yourself. Though Frisk's voice whispering in your ear was still a little odd, it some how felt good. It was as if they were empowering you to continue, a constant reminder of what it is you are doing. As you grin and hold your fist up, you feel energized. Hurrying ahead through the next room felt great! Even though you were just running through everything now, you felt as if nothing could stop you.

That is, until you fell through the floor.

As you land in another leaf pile below, you rub your head and look up, "Oh man," you groan, "I forgot the floor can be unstable here." You stand, rubbing your back and stretching a bit. You look up above you where the hole was and just smile, "Guess I just gotta be more careful."

You look around and start to walk again, heading towards a set of stairs on the other side. As you begin to ascend them, another monster trips down them into you. You barely have a chance to react as you both fall back into the leaves and the battle begins.

"O-Oh! I-I'm sorry..." the monster apologizes, avoiding making eye contact with you.

You tilt your head, "What's with this guy?"

 _That's a Whimsun,_ you hear Frisk tell you, _They are really shy and usually too nervous to fight._

You stand and brush the leaves off yourself, smiling at the Whimsun, "Hey, it's okay. Not your fault, right? Accidents-" before you could finish the Whimsun burst into tears and retreated back up the stairs. You stare, just blinking as if you may have missed what happened, "...happen. Guess it's gone then." You shrug and walk up the stairs.

* * *

As you pass through the rest of the Ruins, you noticed a majority of the monsters starting to approach you more. It became less and less fights, and more just curiosity. They would ask you questions about what you like to eat, what you do for fun, or just tell you something mundane about themselves. Somehow, it made you smile. They were beginning to warm up to you.

Along the way, you reached a road block. In the doorway, lying in a pile of leaves, seemed to be a ghost.

"Zzzzzzz...zzzzzzz...zzzzzzz..."

As you approach the ghost, you hear them saying a bunch of Z'S out loud. They didn't really seem to be asleep, as one of their eyes opened a little and looked right at you. You start to say something, but they just continue on.

"Zzzzzzz...zzzzzzz...are they gone yet?"

You step a little closer to the ghost and put a hand out to try to...wake them up. As your hand passes through them, they disappear and reappear above you, starting to cry.

"Don't mind me. I'm just pluggin' along," the ghost said with a sniffle, seeming to avoid eye contact with you.

 _Here comes Napstablook,_ you close your fists as his tears seem to fly all around you, closing in on you before just falling to the ground, _A lonely ghost who really just doesn't want to be here._

"Hey, come on now!" you smile at Napstablook, thinking maybe they just need a friend to cheer them up, "Theres no need to cry. Come on, surely there's something to smile about!"

Napstablook just turns their gaze to the side away from you, groaning, "Sorry, I'm really not feeling up to it right now," they glances at you for just a moment and you just smile, "Hnnngggghh..." they just look away, starting to cry again, though it seemed to be letting up a little.

You dodge the tears to the side, swooping away as quickly as you could as it trapped you in. An idea hits you and you step back, smiling at them again, "Oh hey! Um... where do ghosts go to have fun?" You ask then.

Napstablook stares at you, just waiting.

You grin and hold a finger up, "They go to the Boovies!" You laugh, maybe a little harder than you should have. When you calm your giggle fit, you Napstablook just smiling a little at you.

 _They don't really have a sense of humor._

"Oh, I'm REALLY funny," you hear Napstablook say. You look at them, confused for a moment. But, before you could question it, they seem to shift a little, nervously almost, and say, "I want to show you something."

You nod, smiling at them as you watch. They begin to cry again, but instead of flying to you, the tears fly up to their head, "I call it 'Dapperblook.'" As you watch, the tears begin to form into the shape of a top hat.

You grin, "Whoa! That's really cool!" You tell them, stepping towards them, "That must have taken a lot of practice!"

"Oh..."

Napstablook floats back a little, "I usually come to the ruins because there's nobody around. But... Today I met someone nice... Oh, I'm rambling again. I'll get out of your way..." they backed away again and just disappeared.

"Oh wait!" You called, but they didn't come back. You smile and sigh a little, starting to walk ahead, "Ah well, maybe I'll see them again."

You look up at the ceiling as you pass through the rooms. It was very low, very closed in. It almost made you feel like you were trapped, never to escape. With a huff, you tell yourself that's not the case and hurry ahead, keeping your eyes straight instead of up.

Suddenly, you feel something drop on your head. Confused, you stop and look up again. As you do, something falls and hits you again in the face. It smells sweet, but it very, very powdery.

"Whoa! Is... this a doughnut?" You take it off of your face and tilt your head. It was a pink doughnut that looked pretty tasty.

"Hey! This isn't a museum!" A voice above you squeaked

"You eat it, you buy it!" Said another.

"Please buy our baked goods!"

As you look up again, you see a couple little spiders hanging from their webs in front of you. Even though they were small, you could see the powder on their limbs and the little aprons tied around their necks.

"Oh! Was it you who dropped this?" You ask them, holding it up.

"Yes! It's for our bakesale!" One of the spiders said, "All the proceeds will help us get out if the ruins."

"Would you like to buy a spider donut?" The other asked, "It's just 7g, nothing more."

You smile and nod, reaching into your pocket. You see you somehow have a bit of money to give them, even though it's a bit more than they asked, "Here, I hope you can get out soon."

"Wow! Thank you! Here, have another!" One spider climbed up, then dropped back down, handing you another doughnut.

"Whoa, thanks!" You smile and wave to them as they climb back to the ceiling and scurry off towards a bunch of big cobwebs. You hold the doughnuts and look yourself over "Now... could I...?" You hold one arm to the side and smile as you shove the doughnuts in it. Surprisingly, they fit as if it were an extra pocket. With a nod, you look up again and hurry ahead.

* * *

"Hey! You!"

As you enter into another long hall, a pair of monsters appear in front of you. They both seem to very large, very evil looking, carrots. They both call you out as they pop up out if the ground.

"Uh, me?" You say, pointing to yourself.

"You look as if you aren't eating a nutritional breakfast!" One of them says.

"Or anything for that matter!" The other cackles.

"I mean... I've got these doughnuts-"

"NO! You must eat your vegetables!"

As the battle begins, little food starts to fly at you from all around you. You dodge away as quick as you can, but a stray potato brushes past your cheek, damaging your heart.

"Come on, guys," you say with a nervous laugh, "Can't we talk about this?"

"Plants don't talk, dummy." One says, the other cackling beside it.

You sigh, keeping it out the way of the flying food, "Alright, fine then. I'll eat my vegetables. What have ya got for me, huh?"

The two monsters seem delighted, "Eat your greens, kid."

You look around them, confused for a moment, as they continue to throw more and more food at you. You dodge then to one side, then the other, before you finally see it. Amongst the food they throw, there is a stalk of broccoli. You grin and rush towards it before it disappears.

"Oh man, i hate broccoli!" You exclaim as you take a bit out of it. It tastes just as horrible as you would have thought, but somehow it makes you feel better. You straighten yourself up and smile at them, "Wow, I do actually feel good now."

"See?"

"Part of a balanced breakfast!"

You smile at them and nod, stepping back from them, out of the fight, "Thank you, really!" The two monsters seem satisfied as they sink back into the ground and disappear. You look down at whats left of the broccoli and smile. It seemed as if it had been an eternity since you had anything to eat, but somehow the broccoli didn't really satisfy that hunger. It did definitely make you feel better during the fight, but that was it.

With a shrug, you toss the broccoli piece over your shouler and start to walk.

"Ow!"

You quickly turn back as you hear a little exclamation, but see no sign of any other monster around. "Hello?" You call out. When no one answers, you simply shrug and continue walking forward, "Maybe I'm just hearing things." You say to yourself.

At the end of the hallway, you can see the doorway is lined with spikes. You blink and look around. There didn't seem to be any switch, though there was a few holes along the walls. Curious to what was beyond them, you walk towards one. You could see into a little, a light almost shining from below. The closer you got, the brighter the light.

Then the floor collapsed beneath you.


	16. A promise to Mom

_It was like watching a child play a game when they clearly have no comprehension of the controls, that's what Flowey was thinking as he watched Sora climb back up from below and fall through the floor again. The kid took longer than he should have for each puzzle. Maybe Flowey just thought that because he's been through it all countless times._

 _Or maybe he's more interested than he thought._

 _He followed Sora as he made his way through the Ruins and finally to the final room with Toriel's house. He had been exploring every little bit he could, it seemed, but it was actually nice when he was finally at the end. Flowey sighed and turned away._

 _"He's going to see this through," Flowey said out loud, "No, he can't be allowed to leave. After everything that has happened, he's just going to set things right?" Flowey gave a hard laugh and smirked, glancing back, "Oh, Sora. How could you do this? This monsters trusted you."_

 _Flowey summoned up his pellets and attacked a small mo after passing by until it was dust. As it vanished, a small heartless version of it appeared in its place._

 _"Interesting... I think I know just the way to stop you from leaving."_

 _Flowey laughed again as the heartless disappeared and he took off into the ground. It was a few moments before the echo of his laughter finally faded away._

* * *

"How do I go home?"

Toriel's face begins to fall as you say this to her. She tried to ignore it, just smiling, "Why, my child, this is your home."

You can easily see how much it hurts her to hear that you want to leave, it makes you sad to have to ask, but you knew this was for the best for everyone.

"Please, mom," you say, resting your hand on hers, "Tell me how to exit the ruins."

Toriel recoiled a little and just gave a nervous smile, "Would you like to hear a fascinating snail fact? They are such interesting creatures and I just love them so much."

You sigh a little, but smile and nod.

"Did you know that snails can see but can't hear?" She tells you with a smile, "Most types of land snails have two set of tentacles, the upper which contains the eyes, and the lower which contains the olfactory organs."

You try to force a smile to show you were interested, but you can't help but think of all of how this would change the way you looked at snails. Toriel watched your expression for a moment, before she stood abruptly, "Excuse me, I must attend to something."

She hurried out the door and you followed her as quickly as you could. But, as fast as you were, you lost her down the stairs. Taking a deep breath, you descended the stairs after her, catching up to her easily as she walked a bit slower, "You wish to know how to return 'home', do you not?" She slows to a stop for a moment, but keeps her back turned to you as she speaks, "Ahead of us lies the end of the Ruins. A one-way exit to the rest of the underground," she glances back at you over her shoulder, "I'm going to destroy it. No one will ever be able to leave again." He tone is stern as she turns back ahead and starts to walk, "Now be a good child and go back upstairs."

You feel a shiver run down your spine at her sudden change of face. It was a side of her you never expected to see, but then again, you knew this had to be typical since most of the other .monsters won't even look at her. Shaking your head, you hurry ahead to catch up with her.

As you reach her, she stops again, sighing, "Every human who falls down here meets the same fate, I have seen it time and time again. They come. They leave. They die," she turns and faces you, her expression stoic, but her eyes holding back the sadness, "You naïve child... if you leave the Ruins, they will... Asgore will kill you. I am only protecting you, do you understand?" She held your gaze for just a moment before turning back, "...go back to your room."

You shake your head and follow her, "No, this is something I have to do. You can't keep me here!"

"Do not try to stop," Toriel snapped back at you over her shoulder as she turned the last corner, "This is your final warning."

You clench your fists as you follow close behind her, determined to do what you have to to get out. As she leads the way to the end of the hall, you see the big door leading out if the Ruins. You watch as she takes a deep breath and turns to face you.

"You want to leave so badly?" She asks you, "Hmph. You are just like the others. There is only one solution to this. Prove yourself," she holds her hands to the sides, little fire balls forming in her palms, "Prove to me that you are strong enough to survive."

As your surroundings go dark, you draw you keyblade out, "Don't do this, mom," you tell her, "I don't want to fight you."

Toriel ignores you as shoots the fireballs at you. You dodge when you can, deflecting the fire with your keyblade. You jump back as one grazes your cheek and burns it a little. You shake you head, standing your ground, "I'm not going to fight you!" You tell her, more forceful this time.

Toriel seems to waiver a bit, but keeps her attack going. As it comes closer, you feel the heat from the flames more and more each time. Until you couldn't stand anymore and you fell to your knees. As you try to catch your breath, you drop your keyblade by your side and shake your head, "Please... I didn't want it to go this way..."

You see Toriel hesitate and look beyond you. Shes no longer looking at you as she attacks you. The attacks don't come anywhere near you or your Soul, they just fly all around. You sigh and relax a little, crossing your ankles as you sit there.

"What are you doing?" She said, looking right at you, "Attack or run away!"

You shake your head, "No."

"What are you proving this way? Just fight me or leave!"

"I won't fight you."

Toriel frowned as she watched you, "Stop it, stop looking at me that way," she sounded unsure of herself as she stepped back, dropping her hands. She shook her head, "I... I know you want to go home, but... please," she held her hands up to you again, "just go back upstairs."

She continues to attack you as you stand slowly, holding your arm. You hold her gaze as she continues to attack. But, as she stares into your eyes, she stops, trying to force a smile.

"I know we may not have much, but we can be happy, we can have a good life here," you could hear the hurt in her voice as the tears started to well in her eyes, "Why are you making this is difficult? Please go upstairs."

"I can't, Toriel," you frown as you step closer to her, "Please."

Toriel closes her eyes, smiling sadly, "Ha ha... pathetic, is it not? I can not save even one child," she looked to the side and just sighed, dropping her arms completely, "No, I understand. You would be unhappy trapped down here. The Ruins are quite small once you get used to them. It would not be right for you grow up in a place like this."

As the room around you began to fade away, you stepped closer to Toriel, just listening as she spoke.

"My expectations... my loneliness... my fear..." she looks at you, smiling a little, "For you, my child... I will put them aside."

You smile at her and nod, "Thank you. I promise, you won't regret this."

Toriel smiles sadly at you, "Just be safe my child. I will allow you to leave here. Just, promise me one thing."

You tilt your head, "What's that?"

"When you leave here, do not come back."

You frown a little, but nod, "Okay... I promise."

Toriel nods as she kneels down and hugs you close to her. You can feel her shaking as she hides her face from you. You raise your arms and hug her back, hoping to put her at ease. But, after a second she releases you and steps around you. You glance back over your shoulder as she walks away, back down the hall. She stops for a moment, starting to look back, but then hurries around the corner.

You sigh and turn back to the door, "I really feel terrible about this."

 _She will be alright. You'll see._

You smile and nod, "You're right. Everyone will be. I will make sure if it." You grab your keyblade and return it to your back aand head right out the door.

* * *

"Oho, you think you're sooo clever, don't you?"

As you walk through the final dark hall if the Ruins, you are met by Flowey, who seems amused by you. You tilt your head as you walk closer to him, "What do you mean by that?" You ask him.

"So you didn't kill anyone this time, _good for you."_ he sneered, his sly smile insincere, "But, what if you meet a relentless killer? You'll die and you'll die and you'll die. Until you tire of trying. Then what? Will you kill out of frustration? Or will you give up on this world entirely and let ME take the power to control it."

You clench your fists and shake your head, "No way, I will be the one to set everyone free. You'll see!"

Flowey smirked, his face twisted into a sinister expression, "Is that right? We shall see then. This is SO much more interesting than that stupid Frisk." He laughed evilly and disappeared back into the ground.

You narrow your eyes as you look where he was, "You'll see, Flowey. Don't worry about it." You sme confidently as you walk ahead and through the open doorway.

* * *

 _Toriel sighed as she poured the last if her watering can on the bed of flowers. She set the can down as she sat at the edge of the flowers. She smiled a little to herself as she gently brushed the petals._

 _"Toriel."_

 _Toriel blinked and looked around. She stood after a second, brushing herself off, "Hello?"_

 _"Down here!"_

 _She looked down to see one of the flowers looking up at her. It seemed to be concerned about something. Toriel knelt down again to get a better look, "Oh, its you again."_

 _"Yes. My name is Flowey. And there is something you should know about that human."_

 _Toriel blinked and tilted her head, "About Sora? What is it?"_

 _Flowey frowned and looked down to the side, "He's... not who you would like to believe. I watched him as he went through the Ruins. He was ruthless, he showed no mercy to anyone who crossed his path. I was lucky to escape him on. Ore than one occasion."_

 _Toriel looked confused, shaking her head, "That doesn't seem right. Sora is a good child, so eager to help everyone."_

 _"Why was he so eager to leave then?"_

 _Toriel blinked, realization starting to set in, "No... he wouldn't..."_

 _There was a shift in the shadows behind her. She quickly jumped to her feet as a heartles leaped up at her. As it started to swipe at her, she clenched her fist and back handed it against the wall._

 _"What are these creatures?" Toriel said as the heartless surrounded her and Flowey._

 _Flowey looked up at her, "Sora did this. He is the reason these creatures are attacking. "_

 _Toriel narrowed her eyes, "Flowey, get yourself to safety." She cracked her knuckles, "I will not allow these creatures to trespass here any longer."_

 _As Toriel's back was turned, Flowey smirked to himself and just disappeared into the ground. The heartless in the room seemed to be observing Toriel as she moved closer to them, allowing them to completely surround her. She held her hands to the side, preparing a magical attack._

 _"Begone from this place. You are not welcome!" As she released the attack, it took out every heartless around her until nothing was left but the uncomfortable silence she had started with. Toriel looked up towards the doorway, narrowing her eyes, "I can not simply stand by and let these creatures take over. I must be sure the Ruins are safe for all the monsters here," she began to walk forward, stepping through the doorway. She paused, resting her hand on the frame, "Sora..." She clenched her fist and shook her head as she continued through._


	17. I'm funny, I swear

The chill of the air hit you like a pillow fight. Though the air wasn't technically fresh, it felt easier to breathe out here than in the Ruins. You know you weren't down there for long, but it still felt like an accomplishment. As you take a deep breath, you smile.

"Okay, here we go." You walk ahead, the crunch of the snow under your feet echoing of the trees, the only sound around you. You look around at the trees, the familiarity setting in, but you couldn't tell if it was your memory or Frisk's. Either way, you knew just what you were in for.

A ways up, you stumble a bit on a large branch. You hadn't noticed it before. Curious, you try to move it, pulling at it with all your might. You try one arm, then both, then at every angle, until finally, you give up.

With a sigh, you sit against the branch, "Man, this branch is a lot tougher than it looks," you glance back, the door to the Ruins still in sight, "Well... No one else will be coming this way anytime soon, right? It should be fine."

You smile and nod, resolved to push forward anyway.

You were several paces away from the branch, when you heard a loud crack. You jump nearly out of your skin, but force yourself to glance back the way you came. You tense up, the branch is still there, only now it's in pieces. Quickly, you turn back ahead and start walking again, faster this time.

"Its all in your head... It's all in your head..." You tell yourself, trying to calm yourself down. Unwilling, but curious, you glance back again as you walk. This time, you see a large shadow duck behind a tree. You key out a yelp and start to run,"That is so not in my head!"

You slow to a stop as you reach a bridge with a large fence blocking the way. You don't know quite why, but an overwhelming sense of dejavu stats to set in. You look up at the gate, wondering if maybe you could climb it.

"Human."

A shiver runs down your spine. You turn slowly around, even though your better instincts days don't. The figure was all in shadow as it looms over you. You stare at it for a second, frozen in place. After a long second, the figure extends a hand out to you. You stand up straight and prepare yourself as you extend your hand to meet it and grab firmly.

The tension dissolves in an instant as a sound like someone blowing a raspberry echoed off the trees. Followed by a very familiar laugh.

As you look up at the figure again, he steps out of the shadow, you see Sans smiling a little too big, "Oh man, the whoopee cushion in the hand trick, that never gets old." You stare, dumbfounded for a moment, before you remember the first time you had met him. You smile at him, grinning add wide as you can, "You sure acted quick though, turning around before I told you too. As if you've done this before," he says, almost thoughtfully, "Anyway, your human right?"

"Oh, yeah!" You smile at him and nod.

"That's hilarious." Sans says, looking to the side, "Anyway, I'm Sans, Sans the skeleton."

"Nice to meet you, Sans."

"You know, kid, I'm a sentry here. I'm supposed to be on the look out for humans, but, I don't really feel like capturing anyone," he just shrugs, "Now my brother, Papyrus, he's a human hunting fanatic. Actually, I think I see him coming now."

You turn to see what he saw, but you couldn't see anything. You raise an eyebrow, confused for a moment, and look at him.

"Go on, just walk through this gate thing. My bro made the bars to wide to stop anything."

You look ahead and realize that he's right. The bridge going between the bars was much bigger than it needed to be. _Guess Papyrus doesn't want to stop anyone that badly._ You thought to yourself.

 _Or it's something else._

You glance to the side, wondering what it was he meant by that, "What?"

"Uh, I didn't day anything, kid."

You blink and look over your shoulder, remembering that Sans was still with you. Of course he couldn't hear Roxas' comment. You aren't sure how you could keep forgetting that. In the back of your mind, you can feel Frisk laughing at you. It's a bit mocking, but somehow makes you feel a bit better.

"Quick! Behind that, uh, _almost_ conveniently shaped lamp."

As you step off the bridge on the other side, you see the lamp next to Sans' sentry station. The lamp he was pointing to was a bit shorter than you, and for some reason reminded you of Frisk. You shrug it off and smile as you crouch down behind the lamp, hiding as best as you could.

"Sans!" After a moment, you hear Papyrus's footsteps stop.

"Sup, bro?" You hear Sans respond. You cover your mouth to keep from laughing out loud.

"Your know precisely whats sup," Papyrus was stomping his foot in the snow with each word, "Is been 8 days and you still haven't recalibrated. Your. Puzzles!" You glance around the side of the lamp and see Papyrus stepping closer to Sans, gesturing to his stand beside you, "You just hang around your station all day! You get lazier and lazier everyday!"

Sans shrugs, "Hey, take it easy. I've gotten a _ton_ of work done today," he glances your way and winks, "A _skeleton_."

You had to duck down to keep from laughing. It was all you could do to keep yourself hidden.

"Sans!" Papyrus stomped again and just sighed, "How is someone like supposed to get ahead in life when I constantly have to deal with these conditions?"

"Gee bro, sounds like you're really working yourself-" he winks at you a again, "-down to the bone."

Papyrus have a frustrated sound, "Just get keep an eye socket out for any humans!" He turned and started to walk a few steps before he stopped again, "And as for your work, Sans. Put a little more _backbone_ into it. Nyeh heh heh!" He laughed and marched down the path. "Heh!"

"Okay, kid, it's safe now."

You stand up from behind the lamp and just smile at Sans, "Wow," is all you manage to say.

"Better hurry and get going before he comes back," he looks at you before turning away, "or else you'll have to sit through more of my hilarious jokes."

You laugh to yourself and start to walk, "okay, okay. See you later then." You look ahead of you down the snowy path. The snow on either side of the road seemed untouched, except by the line of trees. In the dirt path in front of you, you could see Papyrus's footsteps leading away. You smile, still seeing his laughing face as he-

"Actually, hey, could you do me one favor?"

You hear Sans again and stop, to the back to him, "Sure, what is it?"

Sans looks at you, his unreadable expression particularly blank, "My brother's never seen a human before and it would really make his day," before you could answer, he turned away and started to walk, waving at you, "Thanks, I'll be up ahead."

You tilt your head as you watch him walk away, confused. You blink a couple times and suddenly he vanishes, "Huh?" You look around yourself. You had been watching him, but he just vanished, "Where did he go?"

 _Don't worry too much about it, Sora,_ Frisk tells you. You can feel them urging you to move forward, _There's more important things to worry about._

You smile and nod, "Right. Onwards then!" You hold your arms up as you March down the path, smiling to yourself.

* * *

 _The silence set in as the air around him went still once again. Watching Sora march off was both familiar and new. He was different than before, but why?_

 _Sans leaned against a tree by the door, wondering what had changed. He stared at the door, waiting for something to happen. But what? It was only recently that things began to change. The world has as been fluctuating more than usual. Was it because of Sora?_

 _Or was it something else entirely?_

 _He quickly jumped to the side as something shot from the shadows and broke the tree he was leaning against in half. He kept running through the trees as more and more of them shot past him, breaking the trees down. Sans kept to the light from the crystals in the ceiling as it shone through the treetops. Each time he glanced back he caught sight of big yellow eyes following him before they shot another blast_

 _"Whoa!" He skidded to a halt as he came to the edge of the small frozen lake in the forest. He turned around, his back to the icy waters, "You really got me_ shaking _now. Why don't you come out and face me?"_

 _Sans shoves his hands into his pockets as he watches the shadows step of the trees. They surrounded him instantly, shuffling and twitching awkwardly. Sans narrowed his eyes at one shadow as it stands before him._

 _"Huh. Not familiar with you. Who are you?"_

 _The figure held its hands out to him, moving closer to him. Sans steps back, his foot shipping a bit on the edge of the ice. He glanced back down at the ice, then back up, the figure directly in front of him._

 _"Whoa, buddy!" Sans said, holding his hands up, "Personal space!" Sans stared at them for a moment, before he said, "No. I can't help him. Why do I need to? Kid can handle himself."_

 _The figure stepped back, turning away from him. The shadows around started getting antsy. They shuffled more and twitched, watching Sans. The figure stopped for a moment, it's head turned back a bit, before it disappeared._

 _Sans watched as the shadows, too, began to recede back into the dark of the forest. He folded his arms, "What is that supposed to mean? " he looked up at the high cliff above, seeing Papyrus as he traveled between puzzles, Sora not far behind him. He shook his head "Guess I'll just have to_ break the ice _then." He laughed as he snapped his fingers, using a shortcut to catch up, "I'm funny, I swear."_


	18. Battle with a Hero

The air was still, even as you stood on the bridge over the canyon. It was surprisingly sturdy for a rope bridge. Ahead of you, Papyrus was standing, looking annoyed as he stomped his foot impatiently. You were wondered if you should say something. The silence was beginning to become unbearable. As you became hyper aware of the stagnant air with each draw of breath, your feel your heart begun to pound anxiously. The walls were beginning to close on on you, or was it the hunger erupting in your stomach as you remember the frozen spaghetti you had left behind. Maybe Papyrus wouldn't notice if you snuck back to it. He was definitely distracted at the moment. Clenching your fists, you take a deep breath and begin to step back.

"Human!"

You freeze halfway through your step and return your foot back to where is was. As you look up at him, you see he is watching your. Perhaps he had always been watching you. Or was reckless to to to sneak away.

"I must apologise for all of this," Papyrus sighed, "Sans and I went to all this trouble to try to capture you, but it seems that lazy bones couldn't even be bothered to show."

You scratch your heart, shrugging a shoulder, "Aw, come on, Pap. Go easy on the guy," your smile and home you're arms out, "I'm sure if he were here, he'd show your just how dedicated he is! Just like you!"

Papyrus waved his hands "Dedicated? Sans? I didn't think I'd every hear someone say those things together," Papyrus pauses, his hand on his chin, "Of course... He _does_ have those three other sentry stations he works."

"Plus the hot dog shop!" You smile as Frisk reminds you, "See? Maybe it's okay that he's so tired. He's just working so hard."

Papyrus looked at you, almost at a loss for words, when Sans pops up beside him, "Heya, did I miss anything?"

Papyrus looks au Sans, at first angry with him, "Sans! You lazy-!" Papyrus cuts himself off and looks at you. You give him to thumbs up, urging him to continue, "You... You deserve to take the day off."

Sans blinks and looks from Papyrus to you, then back to Papyrus, "Huh?"

Papyrus nodded, standing proudly, "Yes! The great Papyrus will handle capturing this human from here out! You need not worry anymore. Nyeh heh heh!"

Sans was silent, his eyes completely black as if he were still taking in the situation. Papyrus continued on and pointed at you.

"Human!" He says with the same authority, "You shall not pass this place, for I will capture you! When you are ready, I will be waiting at the edge of Snowdin! Nyeh heh heh heh!"

As Papyrus scurried off, you step forward and stand next to Sans, "He seems happy," you tell him with a smile.

Sans looks at you, the white of his eyes returning, and just shrugs, "Certainly does, doesn't he? Hey, thanks, kid."

You smile and nod, giving Sans a thumbs up, "Hey, no prob. It was a lot of fun!"

Sans looks ahead, "I'm sure. I don't know what my brother has planned next, but you better watch out. He's pretty tough."

You nod, "Right. Got it!" As you smile and wave at him, you begin to walk ahead. You could see the light coming from Snowdin ahead of you, though it's still a ways off. Before you could get too far, the light cut off in the shape of Sans. You jump back and blink, "Whoa!"

"One more thing, kid," Sans says to you, a sort of serious tone to his voice, "there's something I need to ask you."

You feel a tinge of nervousness run through you, though you're not sure quite why, "Uh, sure. Shoot."

"Where did you _really_ come from?"

You try to think of something to tell him, something that he could believe, something that you know wouldn't be going against what your swore as a keyblade wielder. But... What else could be said? You have already gotten yourself too deep into this world's affairs. What's one more thing going to hurt?

"Well... Honestly, I'm-" The ground suddenly began to shake violently beneath you, snow flying in mounds off the cliff. You look up above as the rocks began to loosen from the ceiling, "Whoa! The whole plane is caving in!"

Sans was looking up in disbelief, "No way, that can't happen," he tells you, "It's reinforced magic, the King cast it himself. It's... Something else..." He narrowed his eyes, then widened them, "Run run!" He yelled just before he disappeared.

You blink, looking up to see what it was he had seen. In an instant, a huge shadow roars down at you as it flies at you, crashing through the bridge. You feel every fiber in you screaming to run, but you know you can't. You tense yourself, standing your ground add you summon your keyblade to your hand. It responds immediately, ready for the fight.

 _Sora, can you beat this thing?_ You hear Frisk ask you beside you. You smile at them.

 _Come on, we've taken on bigger challenges than this,_ Roxas grins. You can feel his determination beating in time work for heart.

"We got this in the bag!" You laugh as you charge at the heartless as it climbs up the size of the cloud and roars at you.

* * *

 _"Did you see the size of that thing?!"_

 _"I've never seen a monster like **that** before!"_

 _"Did the humans send it down here? To torture us further?"_

 _The lab was abuzz with activity as monsters from Snowdin to Hotland were gathering to seek refuge from the creatures they had seen. None of them seemed to know what was going on, but they all seemed frightened by it._

 _The door opened again as Undyne stepped in, taking her helmet off. She looked surprised, "Whoa, more people are here than normal," she nodded a greeting to a few of the monsters as she walked past them, "Alphys, are you home?" She called out._

 _"Undyne! Up here!"_

 _Undyne looked up to the second floor to see Papyrus waving at her, Sans standing beside him. He looked more concerned than he normally did, which was more than a little unnerving. She made her way through the crowd and up to the second floor to greet them._

 _"What the hell is going in here?" She asked them._

 _Papyrus shook his head, "There's a terribly rude monster attacking everyone in Snowdin! I saw it fall from the ceiling, trying to fly with its wings that were obviously too small for its long body-"_

 _"Like a bumblebee," Sans added._

 _"Sans! Let me finish!" Papyrus scolded, "It fell not far from Snowdin. Thankfully the human couldn't have been there to-"_

 _"WHOA. Did you just say Human?" Undyne looked at Papyrus, shocked, "There's a human out there and you_ didn't _capture them?!"_

 _Papyrus stood his ground, but seemed to nervous to answer right away. Sans shrugged and waved his hand, "Come on, Undyne. We wanted to give the kid a fair fight," he said, "But, that thing interrupted before Papyrus got a chance to face the human in battle."_

 _"Yes yes! Nyeh, just as Sans said!" Papyrus returned to his proud look, and yet disappointed in himself, "I wanted to give the human a proper chance to be defeated! Maybe there will still be hope."_

 _"H-Hey guys!"_

 _Undyne blinked and looked over the edge to the first floor. Just beneath them they could see Alphys sitting in front of a set of monitors, "Alphys! There you are."_

 _Alphys pushed her glasses us, just giving a meek smile, "H-Hey... Uh... Y-you guys... Should really see th-this..." She pointed a shaking claw at the screen._

 _The three of them hurried down the stairs, the other monsters moving out of the way as they hurried through, "What is it?" Undyne asked as she stood behind Alphys. She looked at her, then up at the screen, squinting her eye a bit to see what she meant. As Sans and Papyrus stood on either side of her, her eye went wide, "Sans... if that..."_

 _"Guess the kid didn't leave after all," Sans shrugged._

 _Papyrus clenched his fist, "This isn't right! The human should not be fighting alone!"_

 _"Y-Yeah..." Alphys nodded, "That thing... th-they are way ou-out of their league with this."_

 _Undyne scowled, clenching her fists, "I'm going," she said, putting her helmet back on."_

 _"U-Undyne! A-Are you sure?"_

 _Undyne just nodded as she walked out the door. The other monsters just watched in silence. Nobody wanted to move or say anything first as the gaze of the room slowly fell on Sans, Papyrus, and Alphys. Alphys just kept her gaze on the screens, switching the others to follow Undyne as she made her way through the Underground to where the Human was fighting. Papyrus watched the screens with her, a sense of worry threatening to take him over._

 _Sans watched the screen with the human closely. They were fighting the giant shadow with a peculiar looking sword. They seemed to be holding their own pretty well, but it was still obvious they were fighting a losing battle. As he shoved his hands into his pockets, he thought of what the other shadow told him, still curious about this mysterious human._

 _"Hey, Papyrus?"_

 _Papyrus straightened up a little and looked at Sans, "Yes, brother?"_

 _Sans met his gaze, the serious look piercing into his brothers, "Do you believe a stolen heart can be returned?"_

 _Papyrus looked confused, "A stolen heart? Are you referring to fallen monsters?"_

 _Between them, Alphys grew noticeably more tense._

 _"Uh, in a sense."_

 _"Anything is possible if you believe, don't you think so?"_

 _Sooo... if I lost my heart, do you believe it could be returned by the human?"_

 _Alphys turned sharply to Sans, "S-Sans, wh-what are you suggesting?"_

 _Sans shrugged, winking at them, "Ah, you got me. I got nothing, I'm_ bone dry _."_

 _Papyrus groaned, "I should have figured you were just talking nonsense again! This is serious Sans!" he turned back to the screen to watch Undyne again. After a moment, Alphys did the same._

 _"Funny," he looked at the humans screen again, noticing something behind the trees, "I_ was _being serious." He snapped his fingers and disappeared from sight._

* * *

The heartless roared again as it swung a long limb into the ground beside you. You stumble a little as you run to get out of the way. It was fast, unbelievably fast for such a big creature. As you slice at it limbs, trying to slow it down, you find it only seems to overcome and get faster.

"This isn't working!" you yell out, part of you hoping someone would hear, though you knew there was no one anywhere near anymore.

The heartless squirmed as it began to give chase to you, following you as you began to run towards Snowdin. You dared to look over your shoulder for a brief second as the monster roared as loud as it could, tripping you and knocking you straight into a prickly pine tree in the center of town. You rub your head, pushing various presents to the side as you climb back to your feet. As the heartless approached you, it seemed to be mocking you. It roared again, asserting itself as it raised a claw to slice at you. Just as its hand raises into the air, it is immediately pierced by a long, red spear. You blink, confused as the creature roared in pain, drawing back a little. You look back to where the spear had come from.

"Yo, little nerd!" You hear Undyne's voice and smile to yourself, "If anyone is gonna take your sorry soul, its gonna be **me!** " As she ran up beside you, she threw another spear directly at the heartless' head. It, of course, realized what was happening in enough time to knock the spear back.

"Thanks for coming," you tell Undyne as you stand beside her.

Undyne scoffed as she took her helmet off and smirked at you, "Don't thank me, kid. I'm still gonna capture you when this is over."

You grin and nod, "I look forward to that. For now..." you look up at the heartless, holding your keyblade up, "Let's do this!"

You and Undyne both give your best battle cry in unison as you charge at the heartless, both ready and determined to take it down. The heartless seemed un-phased as it roars back and meets up with you both in a terrible collision.


	19. It's a living

**A/N: Inspiration is few and far between... But hey! Things are about to get interesting here! Hope you guys are ready! I see you predicting and thinking this will go one way. All I'll say it... Enjoy the ride.**

* * *

As you deal the finishing blow, the beast lets out a mighty roar, falling into the canyon below. It slides along the sides of the cliff, grasping to climb back up, as it finally fades away.

You grin ear to ear, "Alright! Undyne! We did-!" You turn to face her to see her spear in your face, "Whoa whoa!" You hold your hands up and take a step back.

"Don't move!" Undyne commanded, her tone freezing you in place, "You've got guts, kid. I like that."

"Does... That mean you'll let me go?" You ask, almost hopeful.

"Hah! Nice try, loser!" She taunted, stepping closer, "King Asgore will be happy to take your soul!"

You blink, remembering, "The King? But that's where I was going."

Undyne blinked her eye at you, "Wait. Why? He's just going to take your soul from you."

You shrug, lowering your hands, "I came here to help this world, to help all of you!" You smiled, "If it means giving up my soul, then okay. Wouldn't be the first time." You just laugh, but Undyne is still a bit stunned. She shakes her head, but you continue, "But, I can't go yet. That shadow isn't alone here, I need to figure out who's making these heartless."

Undyne lowered her spear, "Heartless? So, you know who's killing monsters off?"

You shake your head, "Not exactly. But it's what I intend to find out. If you're willing to help, we can save everyone!"

She seemed to think it over for a minute, then raised her spear again, still skeptical, "And why should I trust _you_?" She asked, "How do I know it's not _you creating_ these things?"

You raise your hands up again, taking a step back again, trying to think of a way out of this. Just then, your phone began to ring, breaking the tense silence between the two of you. You look to Undyne as if to ask permission to answer it. She sneered and just flicked her head to the side. With a slow and steady hand, you reach into your pocket and pull the phone out. The caller ID showed it was Sans calling. As you opened it, you pressed the speaker button and held the phone up between the two of you, "Hello?" You say loud enough for him to hear.

"Heya kid," Sans' voice comes through clearly, "You and Undyne getting along ok? She's got a pretty _piercing_ personality, but once you get to know her, you can really see how _sharp_ _she_ can be."

"Ugh! Sans! Get to the point!" You smiled, hearing Papyrus in the background.

"Ok, ok, you there kid?"

You nod, looking at the phone, "Yeah, uh, what's up?" You look up at Undyne's annoyed face and just shrug. He spear was more pointed at the phone now.

"Can Undyne hear me?"

"Yeah."

"Cool. Here, Papyrus."

You hear the scratching on the receiver as the phone passes from Sans to Papyrus just before Papyrus clears his throat, "Human! Undyne! Fear not! I, the great Papyrus, will work out your differences!"

You bite your lip to keep from laughing out loud as you look at the phone. Undyne just rolls her eye, "Papyrus, what do you really want?" She asked him.

"Bring the human back here!" Papyrus said, "Sans seems to believe they can help us, and Alphys seems to trust him for some reason!"

You nod quickly, looking at Undyne. She meets your gaze for a second, then flicks back to the phone, "You're telling me to just blindly trust this human? Who could very well be destroying us behind our backs?"

"Trust me," Sans said, "They aren't this time."

This time? You remember that Sans can recall quite a few things from the past timelines, but, he'd never been skeptical of you before. Frisk had done some damage before, but, maybe since Frisk was with you, it gave him reason to worry. You glance beside you where Frisk was standing in your mind. They just frowned as they listened. To the other side, Roxas stood quiet, his arms crossed. It wasn't like him, but this wasn't the time to worry about it.

"Alright. Fine," Undyne finally agreed, letting her spear down completely, "Let me talk to Alphys."

The phone shuffled again as it was passed to Alphys, "U-Uh yes?"

Undyne sighed, as she relaxed a little, "Alphys, what the hell is really going on here?"

"Th-Those dark creatures are a-appearing everywhere!" She said, "I-I've never seen anything like it."

Undyne raises an eyebrow, "Everywhere?"

"C-Come back here, both of you. I-I'll show you."

"Alright, we'll be there soon."

As the phone clicked off, you closed it as put it back in your pocket, "See? I told you."

Undyne scoffed, "As if I'm going to trust you, kid," she stepped closer and scooped you up in one arm, carrying you, "Lucky for you, I trust Alphys." With a wide grin, she took off, running high speed back to, and through, Snowdin.

* * *

After a fairly quick and nauseating ride under Undyne's arm, she finally stops and let's you down. You quickly try to gather yourself, regaining your balance, and look around you. You stood back somewhere in Waterfall, there was no mistaking the dark cavern and the constant sounds of running water. In front of you both stood a little house shaped like a fish.

Undyne looked at you, "This is my house. I just need to change before we go back to the lab." She said as she led the way into the house. It was one room, a door at the opposite end. To the left you saw a grand piano, in fair condition, and a little kitchen to the right. As you stand beside the little table, Undyne points at the chair and glares at you, "Sit there and _don't move._ " She commanded, walking to the back towards the door.

You wait a second before standing up again. The house was quiet, except for the sound of metal hitting the floor behind the door. Curious, you walk over to the piano and gently run your fingers across the keys. Undyne definitely didn't seem like the type to play something like the piano, but, maybe there was more to her than meets the eye.

"OI. WHAT PART OF DON'T MOVE DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND?"

You jump, your fingers pressing down on the keys, and look up. Undyne was glaring at you from the doorway, now wearing just a tank top and jeans. Without so much covering her, you could see more of her scales, which glistened a bit in the light. Her hands, too, were webbed with red like her ponytail.

"U-Uh, sorry!" You quickly apologized.

Undyne sighed and walked past you to the door, "Let's just go already." You have to run to catch up to her as she closes the door sharply behind you.

Undyne walks across the cavern to the opening you came from. As she passes a training dummy off to the side, she gives a two finger salute. You tilt your head as you approach the dummy curiously. It didn't seem like much more than that.

Suddenly, it's eye shifts and it looks at you, "What? What?! WHAT?!" It exclaims, "It's a living!"

You blink, jumping back a little to catch back up with Undyne. She walked back through the main cavern, opting to take a path further down. As you follow her around a little pond in the center, you see the familiar sparkle of the save point. With a smile, you hurry over to it and hold your hand out, feeling the warmth surround you.

 _The sound of a distant waterfall fills you with determination_ , you hear Frisk whisper in your ear.

"Hey, hurry up, nerd!" Undyne called to you, "If you think I'm gonna leave you to get there on your own, you're dead wrong."

"I'm coming!" You hurry back and join her at her side, "So, why did you change exactly?"

Undyne rolled her eye and looked at you, "Duh, because we're going to the lab," she groaned at your still confused look, "Which is in Hotland? Which is incredibly dry and _hot_? And I'm a fish? Get the picture?"

You blink, realizing what she was saying, "Oh! Right!" You scratch your head, feeling a bit foolish for even asking, "Woops, sorry about that."

Undyne cracked a little smile and looked ahead of them, "Just don't let it happen again."

She stopped at the edge of the path and you saw what she had led you to. It was the River person. Undyne smiled and waved to them, "Hey, River Person."

River Person nods to you both, "Welcome, tra la la. Care for a ride?"

Undyne nods and climbs in, you following suit, "We're heading for Hotland."

"Very well. Off we go, tra la la!"

The boat zooms along the water, seeming to skip over the waves with ease. Undyne closed her eye, her arm draped over the side of the boat so her hand ran along the water. The high speed seemed like it would hurt her hand, but she seemed content. After a moment, she sighed and opened her eye again, meeting your gaze. Her lip curled back in a sneer at you.

"What, punk?"

You give a smile, not phased by her attitude, "Nothing. You just aren't quite like I imagined you would be?"

Undyne gave a hard laugh, "I suppose that's a good thing."

You shrug, "It's kind nice to know that you can be."

Undyne blinked and just looked away, "Whatever, punk."

You laugh as you sit back and watch the walls as they zoom past the boat. The darkness began to brighten up the closer you came to Hotland. You remembered the lava that moved slowly by at the bottom of the cavern. A part of you wondered how the monsters could survive in such bizarre environments. Another part of you wondered if this was really a volcano ready to blow.

"Here we are, tra la la," River Person announced as they stopped the boat at the shore, "Come again, is you require my services, tra la la."

Undyne took out a canteen she had brought with her and filled it with the water from the river. As she stood up again, she slapped the back of your head, "Come on, punk." She smiles as she walks ahead.

As you rub your head and follow close to her, you hear a strange, familiar, shuffle behind you. You quickly turn back, but see nothing there. Undyne notices your turn and stops, but says nothing. As you stare at the ground, you notice something. Your own shadow is beginning to move on its own. It reminds you of something you had been told long ago, something you hadn't thought of.

"The closer you get to the light," you say out loud, stepping back, "The greater your shadow becomes."

Undyne looks at you, confused, "What is that supposed to-"

You cut her off as you grab her arm and run ahead up the path. She's protesting the whole way, complaining how your hurting her by pulling her so close to the ground and how you have a strong grip for a kid, but you keep running. The shuffling behind you begins to get louder and louder. Pushing on harder, faster, you run.

You come to a four way fork in the road. You opt to run ahead, get up the stairs away from the shadow, but Undyne stops you dead in your tracks, pulling you back so you fall on your butt.

You look behind you, the shuffling sound stopping completely. With a sigh of relief, you let go of Undyne and look up at her. But she wasn't looking at you, and the horrified look on her face suggested much worse than a shadow stalking you.

She quickly ran off to the right down a different path. You begin to follow her until you see just what had spooked her. Ahead was the lab, a big, white, and unmistakable building.

But there was a hole where the door should be.

* * *

 _Flowey sulked by himself next to the pond in Waterfall. He huffed and puffed and mumbled to himself out of frustration._

 _"This isn't how the game is played," a cool voice said to him, making him turn around to see where it came from, "_ He's _not playing by the rules, is he Flowey?"_

 _Flowey scowled, "No! He took Frisk out of the game and now nothing is going right! This is NOT the game we we're supposed to play!"_

 _"Perhaps you need to teach him a lesson."_

 _"How can I do that?"_

 _The figure stepped out from a shadow, heartless flanking it on either side, with one stuck close to it, "Let me help you. After all, it was our plan from the beginning... Wasn't it, Asriel?"_

 _Flowey was stunned as he stared at the familiar face. It was one he had dreamed to see again, and yet, he could feel a tinge of fear building up inside him, "Chara? Is that really you?"_

 _Chara smiled a wide, toothy grin, their eyes glowing even in the darkness, "You have more power than you know. More than those silly human hearts could give you. Let me show you."_

 _Chara held their hand out to Flowey, the heartless around them following the order as they leaped at Flowey. His scream and cried pierced the silence of the caves for just a moment. Once the shadows disappeared, Flowey with them, it was quiet once more._

 _Chara laughed, then looked down at the one heartless at their side, "You'll see. This will be so much fun." They snapped their fingers and both disappeared in an instant._


	20. I'm just a robot with legs and a SOUL

You could easily remember the way to MT resort, as if you had gone there everyday for your entire life. The Underground was still and quiet, even the shadows decided not to stir. Walking the cavern, you repeated to yourself what Undyne had told you so you wouldn't forget.

"Go to the Core, find Mettaton," you mumbled, as the light from the resort came into view, "Shouldn't be too hard, right?"

 _If it's anything like before,_ Frisk chimed in, _He'll be waiting for you_.

 _If he's even still alive_ , Roxas added, _How do we know we can trust him? Isn't he made to kill humans?_

 _He has a soul and a dream, same as everyone else down here,_ Frisk frowned.

 _From what I understand, that still doesn't stop his primary purpose. I really have a bad feeling about this._

 _You need to give him a chance. He_ -

 _No!_ Roxas's temper made you stop in your tracks. You looked back at both of them, Frisk looking sad and Roxas angry. They didn't talk much to each other, but you were beginning to see why, _Why should we trust you to save this world?_ You're _the reason it's in such bad shape! We wouldn't be here if it wasn't for your actions!_

You blinked, surprised at his outburst. It's true, you had thought that once for a moment, but, it wasn't something you held onto. Frisk wasn't fully to blame here, but, that part of you where Roxas resides still believes they are. Still, you couldn't find it in you to fully believe it.

 _You're right._ You and Roxas both look at Frisk in surprise, _It is my fault. But that's exactly why I'm trying so hard now to fix it. I want to do what's right for this world._ They looked down sadly, _They deserve that._

Roxas scoffed, folding his arms. He looks at you, _Well? What do you think?_

You scratch your head as you weigh the options. It was tough, but there was really only one way to fix the Underground, "Man, there's really only one way to get through this. We have to trust that Frisk really knows what they're talking about."

Roxas narrows his eyes, _I knew it. Do what you have to. I won't interrupt anymore. But don't come crawling to me when you need a hand._ With that, he disappeared, his voice going silent in your head.

 _I'm sorry..._ Frisk said, looking up at you, _But this really is the only way_.

You smile at them, "Don't worry about him, he'll come around. Let's just find Mettaton and get this show on the road!" You throw your fist in the air as you turn and run towards the resort. Frisk smiles a little before disappearing to join you.

* * *

The Core hums softly in the background as you enter. Though it is quiet otherwise, you can't help but think something is following you. Glancing back a few times, you see you are alone. With a sigh, you walk to the elevator in the center and ride it to the top floor.

Frisk had told you that Mettaton would be at the top. He would be waiting. They also told you to be prepared in case something were to happen. Mettaton would be ready for a fight, he's just as desperate as everyone else to leave the underground.

The elevator slowed to a stop, opening it's doors to the brightly lit hallway. You step out cautiously and glance to your left.

"This is it." You take a deep breath and take your keyblade in your hand, "It's now, or never."

You step in through the doorway and walk ahead. The hum of the core fades away, swallowed by the darkness surrounding you. It was difficult to make out the path in front of you, but a dim light ahead of you seemed to shine the way. You approach it, cautious to see where it is coming from. The closer you get, the more familiar it seems. You stop just a few feet from it, staring in confusion.

It was a broken down machine. The grid on the font face lit up faintly now and then. Even though the metal frame was damaged, there was no mistaking what it was.

You step closer to it, keeping your keyblade gripped tight in your hand as you reach out to the machine, "Mettaton?" The grid blinked an M in response, "Can you hear me?"

There was a whirring coming from him, then, as the M lit up consistently, though faintly, "Hu...man.." you could make out the word through the static.

You step closer to the robot and kneel in front of him, reaching your free hand out to gently touch the LED screens. You could feel Frisk's apprehension grow the closer you came.

"Golly, seems like you're too late to help him," a voice pierced the darkness behind you, "But you should be accustomed to that."

You stand and turn abruptly as the voice cackles out. It's Flowey, sticking out of he ground right by the door. You look confused as you tilt your head and walk closer to him. But Frisk stops you.

 _Wait, Sora, something isn't right,_ they said, standing in front of you, _Flowey isn't supposed to be here._

You shake your head and step around them, "Don't worry, I can handle this."

Flowey tilted his head, smiling, "Have you lost your mind or do you always talk to yourself."

You stand in front of him and kneel down a little, "I wasn't talking to myself." You say without thinking.

Flowey processed that for a moment. He blinked, looking up at you, "They were right then. You really do have another soul."

You stare at him, wondering how it is you should answer. You can feel Frisk in the back of your mind, pulling you back, urging you to leave, but you stay put. You sit on the ground in front of Flowey, placing your keyblade over your lap.

"Yes, that would explain why it's just _you_ here. And not them."

You shake your head in protest, "It's just me here. It has been this entire time."

"In this timeline, maybe," Flowey insists, "But not before. Frisk should be here to fight Mettaton right now. Or just dance. Whatever."

You turn back and glance at Mettaton, who has now gone completely dark. Something seemed to break him, but you weren't sure what.

"Of course... Now that _you're_ here," Flowey started, the sinister tone to his voice making you turn back to him, "We can have some _real fun."_

Flowey cackled out as the shadows shifted around him, shaking the ground beneath you both. You struggle to get to your feet as the tremors build in power and knock you back down again. You fall to the edge of the platform, dropping your keyblade over the edge.

"No no no!" You exclaim, reaching for it, trying to summon it back, "Get back here! Please!"

"Oopsie!" You hear Flowey, his voice a bit distorted as he vanishes into the dark, "Looks like you're trapped in the dark without a flashlight."

You hop back to your feet in time to see Mettaton's form changing shape, darkness emanating from the back of him as it lifted him in the air. The lights on his screen began to flash different colors as the glaring darkness poured out from him. You cover your face as the gust blows you back, threatening to knock you off once again. As you look up again, you stare in astonishment as Mettaton's body changed completely.

He had a full body form, though his face was still blank like a screen. His arms reached out to the sides, knives replacing his fingers, elbows, and shoulders. Though his EX for had seemed "sharp" before, Frisk noted to you that this was much more sinister. Wings spring from his back as he lands back on his feet.

The screen on his face changes then, resembling Flowey's mocking smile.

"Ooh, this is... Weird," Flowey's voice came from the screen, distorted and mixed with a deeper undertone that had belonged to Mettaton, "Is this what its like to have arms?" He cackles again as he steps closer to you, "I could get used to that."

"Whoa! Flowey, how'd you-" you slowly stand as the shaking and gusts die down.

Flowey quickly swung a hand at you. You barely had enough time to react as you jump back out of the way, "Darkness is a funny thing," he slammed his hand at you as you jump around him, starting to circle around, "This is much easier than stealing the human souls."

You run around him, jumping and ducking out of the way as he swings his arms around at you. You push on past the pain, even though I was quickly exhausting you. You jump back, stepping back from him to catch your breath, "Why, Flowey?" You ask him, "Giving in to the darkness... What about your heart? If you aren't careful, you-"

"Are you really so stupid?" Flowey interrupted you, laughing again, "How can I lose something I never even had?!" He roared out in anger as he charges you, his knife fingers slicing through the air and landing right at your feet.

You scurry out of the way and run to the opposite side of the battlefield, "This isn't good..." You look down at your hand, trying to summon your keyblade. You frown, closing your empty fist as you look up at Flowey again, "I can't do this on my own, he's too strong!"

You step back, watching as Flowey spots you again and begins to move towards you. You close your eyes as you hit a wall, trying to not focus on the clanging sound of his steps as he slowly approaches. Just as the sound gets close to you, it's speeds up. You hear the whirring as he winds his arm back once again to swing at you. You tense, ready to feel it.

As the sound of metal clanging and scraping against the wall rings in your ears, you fall back and everything fades away.

* * *

 _"Sora!"_

 _The snowy scape had been quiet and still. The wetlands only sounds came from the running water. The lava bubbling at the bottom of the cavern of Hotland was deafening. The echo of her voice rung far, but always came back with nothing._

 _Toriel walked the halls of the underground as she hadn't in far too long. The monsters she passed seemed to pay her no mind. All of them seemed concerned with something else, but she didn't ask what._

 _She walked through the darker part of the cavern, following a bright light that came from a building with MTT written over the door. Toriel approached it curiously._

 _"Like, can you even believe it?"_

 _"I know! It's so, like, heartbreaking!"_

 _"For you maybe..."_

 _As she walked towards the door, Toriel heard voices coming from around the corner of the building. She walked around it to see who was there and saw three monsters, two cats and an alligator._

 _"Like, sorry, lady," one of the cats said, a paw to her face, "Our shop is totally closed."_

 _"Yeah, we're like, in mourning right now," the alligator added._

 _"They're in mourning," the other cat said, looking much happier than them as he took a drag from his cigarette, "I'm celebrating."_

 _"Forgive my intrusion," Toriel nodded, "I'm sorry for your loss. But, I'm looking for someone."_

 _The three looked at each other, then back at Toriel, "Someone like who, lady?"_

 _"Please, call me Toriel."_

 _"I'm Bratty, and this is Catty," the alligator said, pointing to the girl cat._

 _"Yeah," Catty smiled, "And this is Burgerpants."_

 _The other cat seemed to tense, breaking his cigarette in his fingers. He looked at Toriel, "That, is not_ mY NAME _."_

 _Toriel tilted her head at him, "Sorry, Mr. Pants, I'm in a bit if a hurry, you see."_

 _Burgerpants just scowled and looked at Bratty and Catty. But the girls were just looking at Toriel, waiting for her to continue._

 _"I'm looking for a human child."_

 _The three of them looked surprised, Bratty and Catty both confused, "A human? Like, there's never been a human down here in ever." Catty said._

 _"Yeah, like, I think we're a bit overdue for one though."_

 _"I saw the little weirdo."_

 _All eyes turned to Burgerpants as he folding his arms, his ear twitching in irritation._

 _"You did?" Toriel asked him._

 _Burgerpants nodded, "He went into the Core. He didn't stop to say hey or anything, he just ran by. Little weirdo."_

 _Toriel looked up at MTT resort, "Through there?"_

 _Burgerpants looked where she did, "Yeah, straight back through. But I don't think-"_

 _"Thank you very much, Burgerpants," Toriel smiled at him and hurried off into the building._

 _"THATS NOT MY NAME!" Burgerpants yelled, "MY NAME IS-"_

 _"Stop yelling, Burgerpants," Bratty sighed, "You voice, like, echoes out here."_

 _"Yeah, Burgerpants," Catty winked at him, "It's like, ear piercing. Please."_

 _Burgerpants put his face in his hands and just sighed, slumping his shoulders. He leaned against the wall in defeat._

 _"Damn, I miss Mettaton."_


	21. Hey, would you like a cup of tea?

_The monsters all call it "New Home", a name given to this new, bigger city by their King. Opposed to the Ruins, which was where they all came from, the change was very clear. New Home is a very different place in the Underground. The crystals in the ceiling were white, casting a much more natural light._

 _The pathway to the castle was across a high cliff, overlooking the city below. There was a low murmur of chatter from the monsters, but not much more. It was quiet, but that didn't stop you. You had a goal, you had somewhere to be._

 _But, weren't you doing something else?_

 _The cliff ended as it went into a building, into a long hallway you recognized. As you stepped in the doorway, you watched ahead, reaching your hand to the side. You knew there a save point there. Best to save yourself, who knows what could happen?_

 _"Heya, kid."_

 _You walk up about halfway before you hear a voice speak. You look up with a smile and see Sans staring you down. His careful gaze was as it always was. And it followed your every movement._

 _"Sans, what a pleasant surprise," you say in a mocking tone. The tone surprises even you, you can't seem to recognize that it was your that said it._

 _Was it really you?_

 _"You've really been busy, haven't you?" Sans asks you. He shrugs, "I thought it was only a matter of time. You don't seem to be able to be stopped."_

 _You hold your hands up, "What's there to stop? The monsters will be free. And so shall I."_

 _Sans didn't seem to buy it, "Is that right? They'll be free? Even the ones you killed?"_

 _You hesitated, unwilling to believe what he was suggesting, but the voice coming from you kept going, "Small sacrifices in the greater battle."_

 _Sans' smile faltered a little as he slowly pulled his hands out of his pockets, "Sora, what happened to you?" He asks you. You feel the smile fall from your face, "You said you wanted to help us, to save us. Was that a lie?"_

 _Sans steps closer to you, slowly, but steady, "You had me believing we would actually be free. You fooled me, and that's not an easy task. Tell me in wrong. Tell me the truth for once."_

 _"You want the truth?" You say quickly, making his stop in his tracks. You shake your head, "I don't belong here. This isn't my world. The one who most deserves freedom... Is me!" You can hear the desperation in your voice, except, it's not yours. Now, you know just what was going on._

 _Sans tucked his hands back into his pockets and stepped back behind the pillar, "That's about what I thought. So tell me... Whose heart is_ really _guiding your key, Sora?"_

 _"Sora?"_

* * *

"Sora!"

You come to your senses as you eyes open with a snap. The blinding lights above you confuse you for just a second as you struggle to take deep breaths. Your eyes dart around the scene above, trying to figure out what it was you were looking at.

The space you were in was small to say the least, but it seemed to be room enough for the few monsters residing in it. Directly about you were Alphys and Papyrus, both expressions melting from worry to relief as you meet their gazes. Behind them you could make out Undyne and Sans watching closely.

"What...?" You begin to sit up, rubbing your head as you look around. Alphys and Papyrus move back a little to give you some space. Your eyes follow the walls and land on a panel beside the set of doors in front of you, "Is this an elevator?"

"Correct, human!" Papyrus proclaimed, "We are currently on our way up to see the king!"

Alphys nodded, "R-Right. We found you a-after..." She frowned a little and looked down.

"We saved your butt from that freaky version of Mettaton!" Undyne said, "Lucky for us we opened the door and you fell right through."

Sans nodded, "It was a real _close cut_ for you, kid."

You look up at each of them as they speak, your gaze falling on Sans as you met his eyes. You heard the joke, but couldn't bring yourself to laugh at it. He still watched you closely, as he always had. As if you were a threat, waiting for you to do something wrong.

Because you were the bad guy to him.

"Thank you guys," you smiled as you stood and brushed the dirt off yourself. Remembering you had dropped your keyblade, you hold your hand out, hoping to call it back to you. You frown, concentrating, but to no avail. It just wouldn't come.

"Hey, what happened to that weird key you had?" Undyne asked.

"I dropped it." You sigh, ashamed to admit, "It usually should return back to me, but it won't come. Why?"

"Fret not, human!" Papyrus smiled, standing proud, "Once everything is settled with the king, you will be able to go back and get it! I, the great Papyrus, will aid you in retrieving it!"

You smile at him and nod, "Thanks, I appreciate it."

The elevator slowed to a stop and the doors opened up. The bright lights from the crystals in the ceiling cast white light over everything. The others walk out ahead of you, heading straight for the throne room. As you step out, the elevator quickly shuts behind you and heads back down. You look at it for a second, then shrug and hurry to catch up.

 _Sora_ , you hear Frisk pull at you as they walk beside you, _This is something you have to do by yourself. Face Asgore._

You nod to them and look ahead as the others stop around the doorway.

"Here we are, Human," Papyrus said, turning to you first, "Are you ready?"

"Actually, guys," you step ahead of them into the doorway and turn to them, "I think I better do this alone."

"You sure about that?" Undyne asks, "You do realize what you have to do?"

"Ask politely to leave?" Papyrus looked at Undyne.

Undyne looked at him, "Uh, yeah. Okay, I think you can handle that on your own. Come on, guys." She turned and headed back down the hall, Sans and Papyrus following beside her.

Alphys looks up at you, "U-Uh... A-about Mettaton..."

You look at Alphys and shake your head, "Alphys, I'm sorry. I don't know what happened to him."

Alphys shook her head "N-Nevermind... There's... Something else too..." She looked down at her claws, fidgeting, "A-About Asgore... I-If you want to c-cross the barrier... You need his soul."

You tilt your head at Alphys, thinking about it. What exactly could she have meant? Maybe he could cross too?

 _No Sora_ , you hear Frisk gently tell you, _You need to take his soul._

" _You'll have to kill him._ "

Alphys and Frisk told you the same like together. You blink, "Huh? That's the only way?" Alphys just frowns and turns away from you. You turn to the door and clench your fists, "No way. There's gotta be another way." You smile and Alphys and put your hand on her shoulder, making her jump a little as she looks at you, "Don't worry. I'll figure this all out!"

As you run inside the room, you can clearly hear the sound of birds tweeting just outside the window. You stop and look up towards the windows near the ceiling. There was sunlight shining in. Real sunlight. You step forward to where it met the ground on a bed of flowers that were yellow as the light shining on them. It brought a smile to your face despite the reason you were there. You knelt down to get a better look at the flowers. They were familiar somehow, but you knew there couldn't be any flowers in the Underground.

Except in the Ruins.

"Oh, hello."

You look up at the new voice and spot a big, broad shouldered monster coming in the doorway. He resembled Toriel a little, at least in the type of monster he was. You stood slowly as he carefully approached you, his purple cloak trailing behind him. He was careful to step in between the flowers, not on them. He smiled gently at you.

"Uh, hi." You greet him, nodding, "You... Are Asgore, right?"

Asgore nods, "Yes. You must be the human. It's very nice to meet you." His smile seems brighter, but with a sadness behind it, "Under normal circumstances... I might ask if you'd like some tea." You force a little at his attempt at a joke, "Well... I guess we best get this over with. Don't you think?"

Before giving you a chance to answer, he turns and heads into the back room. You follow him, walking around the flowerbed. The next room is dark, spare the light pouring in from the throne room. You kept your gaze ahead, peeking past Asgore to see where he was leading you. Just ahead of him you could make out the shape of another door.

"Through here is the barrier that keeps us all trapped down here," he explains. He steps and opens the door, a pulsating white light blinding you for just a moment. You stare in awe as he walks up to his and gently touches it with his hand. He turns back to look at you, his hand still up on the barrier, "It's been so long... But, with your soul, we can finally be free."

You shake your head, "Asgore, wait," you step towards him, "There has to be another way to free you all. A way that won't maybe kill either of us?"

Asgore dropped his hand and shook his head slowly, "No. There is no other way. We have tried many different solutions, but with no success."

"But... But..." You look around for another excuse, but nothing comes to mind. Here in this piercing white abyss, your mind is blank. Beside you, Frisk is there, but they say nothing. They just stare at Asgore with a blank expression. You look to the other side of you, but nothing is there. You remember Roxas isn't going to be there for you. Clenching your fists, you look up at Asgore once more and take a deep breath, "Fine. Have it your way then."

Asgore closes his eyes as the area around you turns black "I am sorry for this." He whips his arm out to the side, a spear in his hand bright red, despite everything else being black and white.

You step back and looked at Frisk, "Frisk, I don't have my keyblade, what do I do?"

 _You fight_ , Frisk tells you, looking up at you then, _You will have to fight the way we do. It's the only way._

As they fade back away, they leave you on your own. You look to Asgore, your own heart floating just in front of you. It's bright red matches Asgore's spear. Stepping forward, you nod "I'm ready!"

Asgore rears back and thrusts the spear directly at you.


	22. You have no power over me

**A/N: It's been one whole year since I started this story. What a journey this has been! Thank you guys for your support on this adventure! It has really been fun for me to write. I hope you guys all like whats about to happen! It's going to be a bumpy ride from here on out!**

 **That being said, I do apologise that this chapter is a bit shorter. It was a lot to happen in a sort period of time. Thank you guys and enjoy!**

* * *

You duck to the side to avoid the spear as it brushes right past your heart. You watch where it ends up, seeing it crash through the menu you thought only got could see. Blinking in surprise, you watch as the mercy button cracks and shatters. You look up to Asgore, ready for anything, but, he's not looking at you. His head is down, avoiding looking to to meet your face.

"Asgore... You don't have to do this." You tell him. His movements hesitate just a moment, but he continues his attack, blasting you with fire magic. You manage to avoid all of his shots, sliding side to side to avoid him, "Asgore! Stop this now!" You notice Asgore tighten his grip on his spear as he swings it at you again. You try dodge the spears, but one catches your arm and knocks you down. You cringe, holding your arm as your heart blinks back to solid, "I don't want to fight you." You tell him. He hesitates only a second before continuing his attacks.

"I guess talking to you won't do me any good." You mumbled to yourself. You stand slowly, debating on what to do. Asgore stands over you, waiting for your next move. You consider what Frisk had told you and look over yourself. You will have to fight Asgore. But with what?

 _Sora_ , you hear Frisk's voice, _don't you have something that will work against him?_

"Something like what?" You look at your hand, then remember the few things you had put up your sleeve, which had acted like a big pocket. Curious, you pull it open wide and shake it out. First fell out a couple spider donuts, "no, that won't help," you shake again and a bit of sludge looking jelly lands with a this, making you shiver.

 _Dog Residue_ , Frisk says, _No good here._

"Why the heck do I even have that?" You ask yourself. Stuck to the Dog Residue you noticed a little plastic bag with cut up colored pieces of paper. Written on the outside of the bag, it said "Temmie Flakes." You just shake your head and shake something else out. The last things to fall out were a sturdy looking stick and a mushy, but still delicious looking, slice of pie.

"That smell..." You look up at Asgore. He had looked up to meet your gaze, a sad and longing look to him.

You look down at the pie again, mushed against the plate, but still hanging in somehow, and pick it up. With a smile, you walk over and hold the pie up to him, "Here, have some."

Asgore hesitates, but smiles as he takes the plate from you, "Oh, thank you, human... This pie... It's brings back some fond memories." He knelt down, holding his spear up beside him, just staring down at the pie.

 _Sora!_ You hear Frisk call to you, _Now is your chance! You have to strike while his guard is down!_

"What?" You whisper to the side, looking at them. How could you attack Asgore when he wasn't even fighting anymore.

 _He would do the same to you! This is the only way, remember?_

"No." You tell them, sternly, "There is always another way."

"What was that?"

You look up to see Asgore watching you with a curious look. He tenses a little as you reach down and pick up the stick, "Asgore. This doesn't have to be the way it ends." You smile as you throw the stick to the side. Asgore looks at you, confused now, "I can set you all free without having to hurt anyone."

Asgore stood now, his hand still holding his spear, "If you will not fight... Then how do you intend to win? How could you free us?"

You look down at your hand, hoping to call your keyblade again, but it didn't come. You just close your fist and smile up at him, "Well... Maybe we could break it together! Why do I need to kill you and take your soul for this to work?"

Asgore shook his head, "It is simply how it is done. Only with all the human souls together could we break the barrier."

"So then... Why don't you just give them to me?"

Asgore looks surprised, "Are you suggesting I simply hand them over?"

You smile and nod, "I have a way with hearts," you say, placing your hand over your chest, "I think I could use them to destroy the barrier so no one has to die!"

He seemed to mull it over for a second, considering his options. One he had decided, he gave a smile and banged his spear on the ground twice. You look back as canisters began to come up from the ground.

"If you wish to try... Who am I to stand in your way? However," he pointed the spear at you in warning, "I will not allow you to leave this room until the barrier is broken."

You turn back to Asgore and nod, "Deal."

Asgore smiles, "Good. Now-" his face drops, then, to one of despair, "This can not be!"

You blink and look over your shoulder to where he was staring. The canisters where the hearts were meant to be we're each empty, no heart to be seen. In their place were swarms of heartless, trying to break free of the glass.

"Oh no, heartless!" You exclaim, stepping back from them.

"How did these creatures get in here?!" Asgore sounds horrified, "The human souls! Did they take them?"

"Your Majesty!" You look back at him, "It's not safe here, we need to get out now!"

Asgore just stares at you, his hands shaking for a moment as he drops the pie and the spear. He falls to his knees as his body begins to turn to dust, leaving behind only a little white heart. It was floating for a moment, until something sliced it down and broke it in pieces.

"Oops~" you hear a familiar, shrill, voice, "Seems the fallout king is no more!"

"Flowey?"

Flowey pops up from the ground, back to his little flower form, and winks, sticking his tongue out at you, "I've been trying to find those souls for so long. But, looks like I was too late anyway!"

You stand your ground, trying to think of a way out of the situation, "Flowey, why are you doing this?"

Flowey scoffed, "Duh, I want control of this world. Isn't that obvious?"

"But taking control of darkness isn't the way!" You step towards him, "You'll only be swallowed by it and-"

"And _what?"_ He scowls at you, "It's not like I have anything to lose! No soul, no heart, no nothing!"

You pause for a moment, "Do you really believe that you don't have a heart?" Flowey looks suspicious and surprised, but you continue on, "Everyone has a heart, it's what connects is, Flowey. Surely you have one deep down. You must know that!"

Flowey thought about it for a moment, just staring at you. After a few minutes, he just laughed. He laughed hard and almost sinister sounding, "Wow. You are more naive than even Frisk! Maybe I should show you what you're really up against!"

The glass behind you shattered as the shadows filled the room like a wave and washed over you, trampling you before you even had a chance to figure out what was happening. All you could make out was the sound of Flowey's laughter.

Then, silence.

* * *

 _"Man! That kid is so stupid."_

 _Flowey shook his head as the shadows were gathered around him. More and more of them seemed to be coming from each and every dark corner of the room. Flowey smirked, watching them closely. He was in complete control. And it felt amazing._

 _"Hey! Listen up!" He yelled. The heartless all stopped what they were doing and just twitched in place, antenna pointed at Flowey, "There is still much to be done. Go on! Take out the Underground and show these pathetic monsters who's_ really _in control here!"_

 _The heartless simply twitched in agreement and began to shamble off, some taking doors while others used pathways of darkness. As quickly as they appeared, they were gone. Flowey too a deep breath and smiled._

 _He looked in front of him where Sora's body still lay face down. He ducked down underground and popped back up beside him._

 _"It's strange, you don't reset nearly as much as Frisk does. Why is that?" He poked at Sora with a petal. He tilted his head as if to shrug and just turned away._

 _"Maybe..." A low voice mumbled from Sora, making Flowey halt his retreat, "because... I'm not down..."_

 _Flowey turned back, narrowing his eyes as Sora slowly got his feet, his eyes still hidden._

 _"Sora? How are you still conscious?"_

 _Sora clenched his fists tight as he smiled wide, rasing his face a little, "He says our hearts are connected... Maybe he's right. Still..." He looked up and met Flowey's gaze, his eyes now a piercing red, "I'm_ not Sora _."_

 _Flowey flinched back a little "H-Huh? You..." He sneered "Whoever you may think you are, you won't be for long!" He roared in anger as he called on the darkness. Shadows began to form around him as they went up his stem, stretching Flowey this way and that until he no longer resembled the little flower he once was. He was a dark and twisted being, a flower shaped nightmare with extra limbs and startling yellow eyes against his dark skin._

 _Sora watched him for a moment, relaxing his clenched fists. Everything was clear to him, in a way that was totally not clear._

 _"Flowey," he said once The now giant creature ceased his roars, "We're more alike than you know." He smiled a little._

 _Flowey's deformed face scowled at him, "What do you know about me anyway? You don't even belong in this world."_

 _"I know more than you think." Sora held his hand out to the side, a few buttons appearing beside him, "For example, I know without the human souls, you can't truly control the timeline."_

 _Flowey blinked and just glared him down._

 _"Which means, I'm still in charge here!"_

 _He turned to the buttons and grinned, smacking his hand straight through the reset button. Flowey yelled out in protest, but it was too late._

 _Everything went black._


End file.
